Kakocha

Location

The Kakocha Oil and Gas Field is situated in Block 15, offshore Angola, with specific coordinates of -6.4196, 11.0938 (WGS 84).

Operators and Owners

The field is operated by Esso Exploration Angola, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The ownership structure includes:

• ExxonMobil: 40.0%
• Eni S.P.A.: 20.0%
• BP: 26.67%
• Statoil (now Equinor): 13.33%.

Discovery and Development

• The field was discovered in 2003 as part of the exploration activities in Block 15.
• The development of the Kakocha field is part of the Kizomba Satellites Phase 2 project, which also includes the Bavuca and Mondo South fields.

Production

• Production at the Kakocha field began in April 2015.
• The project has an estimated peak production capacity of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) and is expected to recover approximately 190 million barrels of oil.

Infrastructure

• The Kakocha and Bavuca fields are developed with tiebacks to the Kizomba B Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The Mondo South field, on the other hand, is tied back to the Mondo FPSO.
• The Kizomba B FPSO is 285 meters long, 63 meters wide, and 32 meters high, with a storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels of crude oil and the ability to process 250,000 barrels per day.

Geology and Reservoirs

• The reservoirs in the Kizomba complex, including those at Kakocha, are from the middle to lower Miocene age and consist of turbidity debris flows deposited along the upper/mid-slope. The structural trap configuration is controlled by early-Aptian salt movement and lateral channel seals.

Investment and Partnerships

• The Kizomba Satellites Phase 2 project, which includes the Kakocha field, involved an investment of $740 million.
• The project benefits from various partnerships and contracts with several companies, including Saipem, GE Oil & Gas, and others, for engineering, procurement, construction, and installation services.

Production Context

• The Kakocha field is part of one of Angola's largest oil-producing blocks, Block 15, which holds approximately 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of recoverable resources.
• Despite recent declines in production from mature fields in Block 15, new discoveries and redevelopment efforts aim to boost output and reverse the decline in crude production in Angola.