Tomboco

Tomboco Oil Field Profile

The Tomboco Oil Field is located offshore Angola, within Block 14, approximately 80 kilometers from the coast and at a water depth of around 400 meters.

The Tomboco Oil Field is part of the larger Benguela-Belize-Lobito-Tomboco (BBLT) development project. This project combines the Benguela, Belize, Lobito, and Tomboco fields into a single, large, stand-alone development due to their shared reservoirs despite being fault-separated.
The operator of Block 14 is Chevron's Angola-based unit, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC), which holds a 31% interest. Other partners include Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção (20%), Eni S.P.A. (20%), and Somoil (29%).

The BBLT development utilizes a compliant piled tower (CPT) as the primary development solution. This CPT, the first of its kind outside the Gulf of Mexico, supports more than 40,000 short tons of topsides and includes 40 well slots. The tower is approximately 1,281 feet tall and is supported by a drilling production platform (DPP).
The project includes engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of production facilities, the CPT, and gas and oil export pipelines, with key contractors such as Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), KCA/Deutag, Mustang Engineering, and Heerema Marine Contractors.

The BBLT project targets the recovery of nearly 500 million barrels of oil, with potential for an additional 150 million barrels to be exploited in the future.
Production from the Tomboco Oil Field, as part of the BBLT project, contributes to the overall production capacity of the block. The BBLT development has a design capacity of around 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
In 2007, the production from the Tomboco Oil Field was reported to be approximately 5.7 million barrels per year.

The project is designed with environmental considerations, including no discharge of produced water and no routine gas flaring. Associated natural gas is sent to the Angolan Liquefied Natural Gas project in Soyo, Angola.
The development includes multiple wells; for example, the Tômbua-Lândana field, another part of Block 14, comprises 46 wells and a subsea center.

The discovery of the Benguela Oil Field was announced by Chevron in 1998, followed by the discovery of the Belize field. Appraisal wells for Benguela and Belize were drilled in 2000, and the Lobito oil field was discovered the same year.
Major contract awards for Block 14 were announced in 2003, and the compliant piled tower was installed in April 2005, with topsides installation completed in May 2005.
First oil production from the Belize field began in 2006, and subsequent fields within the BBLT project have come online since then.

The total capital costs for the BBLT development are estimated to be around $2.4 billion.
The Tômbua-Lândana field, another development within Block 14, involved an investment of $3.8 billion.

Block 14 has multiple development areas, including Kuito, Benguela-Belize-Lobito-Tomboco, Tômbua-Lândana, Negage, and Gabela. The block's development and production rights are set to expire between 2023 and 2028.
The natural gas from these fields is commercialized through projects such as the Angola LNG plant, which processes associated gas from multiple fields and operators.