Ndungu

Ndungu Early Production (EP) Development Project Profile

The Ndungu EP development project is located in Block 15/06, offshore Angola, approximately 130km off the coast and about 10km from the Ngoma Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
Block 15/06 is situated in water depths ranging from 300m to 1,800m and covers an acreage of 2,984 km².

The project is operated by Eni Angola, which holds a 36.84% stake in Block 15/06. The other joint venture partners are Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção (36.84%) and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.32%).

The discovery of light oil in the Ndungu prospect was announced by Eni in May 2019. The Ndungu-1 new field wildcat (NFW) well was drilled by the Poseidon drillship in 1,076m-deep waters, reaching a total depth of 4,050m. The well encountered a single 65m oil column with 45m of net pay of high-quality oil (35° API) in Oligocene sandstones.
The Ndungu-2 appraisal well, drilled about 5km away from Ndungu-1, encountered 40m of net oil pay (35° API) in the Lower Oligocene reservoirs. This appraisal led to a significant upgrade in the resource base, estimating the field to contain between 800 million and one billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place.

The Ndungu EP development project commenced oil production in February 2022, with an expected production rate of approximately 20,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). This production will sustain the plateau output of the Ngoma FPSO.
The project is linked to the Ngoma FPSO, which has a processing capacity of 100,000 bopd, a gas handling capacity of 115 million metric standard cubic feet per day (Mmscf/d), and a water injection capacity of 120,000 bopd. The Ngoma FPSO was refurbished and upgraded in 2021 to minimize emissions, aligning with Eni’s decarbonisation strategy.

The Ndungu field is part of the broader Agogo Integrated West Hub project, which involves the production of hydrocarbons from both the Agogo and Ndungu fields. This project includes the development of 36 new wells (21 producers and 15 injectors), approximately 100km of rigid flowlines, 100km of flexible flowlines, and 100km of umbilicals.
Saipem has been contracted by Azule Energy (a joint venture between Eni and bp) for the engineering, fabrication, transportation, and installation of subsea facilities, including 60km of rigid pipelines and other subsea infrastructure, as part of the Ndungu field development. This contract is valued at $850 million.

Following the start of production, Eni planned further exploration and delineation drilling in the first half of 2022 to assess the full potential of the Ndungu field.
A second producer well is expected to come on stream in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Ndungu EP development is the third production start-up by Eni Angola in Block 15/06 within a seven-month period, following the Cuica Early Production and Cabaca North Development projects.
Block 15/06 has seen several commercial discoveries, including Kalimba, Afoxe, Agogo, and now Ndungu, with a combined resource estimate of 1.4 billion barrels of light oil in place.

The Ngoma FPSO, which processes the oil from the Ndungu field, was upgraded in 2021 to be a zero-discharge and zero-process flaring FPSO, aligning with Eni’s decarbonisation strategy to achieve net zero emissions.