Angola’s National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency, ExxonMobil and its Block 15 partners confirmed a new oil discovery at the Vicango Este-01 well on Wednesday, the deepwater block’s 20th find since production began. Some 370 kilometers (230 miles) northwest of Luanda, the well was drilled to 940 meters, encountering 25 meters of high-quality, hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone, according to a joint company statement, as reported by CNBC.
Block 15 has produced more than 2.7 billion barrels over 30 years. In a joint statement, ExxonMobil Angola chief executive Brian Unietis called Block 15 “one of Angola’s most significant deepwater developments” and said new discoveries increase the value of existing infrastructure, in the joint statement.
The discovery comes three weeks after Chevron reported a discovery at its 105-4X well in neighboring Block 0, where the company hit more than 2,000 feet of hydrocarbons and found 300 feet of net pay in the Pinda reservoir of the Lower Congo Basin. Chevron is weighing a tie-in to existing Block 0 facilities over a standalone project. The company has logged three near-field discoveries in Nigeria since late 2024 and plans to drill the Nabba-1X well in Namibia before year-end.
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It’s been a tough road for Angolan state producer Sonangol, which holds stakes across the country’s offshore blocks, and was forced to borrow $2.65 billion from a bank syndicate in June to cover operating costs, in addition to a $1.75 billion Afreximbank facility and a $750 million bond sold months earlier. The company is chasing $4.8 billion more for its Lobito refinery and has scheduled a partial stock listing for 2027.
Angola trails only Nigeria among Sub-Saharan Africa’s crude producers. National output has stabilized near 1.1 million barrels per day, down from a 2008 peak above 2 million bpd. New fiscal terms and exploration incentives from Luanda are pulling drilling back into both mature and untested acreage, Vicango Este-01 among the results.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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