Combined with a third Kizomba C field, Mondo, which came on stream in January 2008, the project is anticipated to reach a total production rate of 200,000 barrels of oil per day later in 2008.
The Kizomba C development is designed to produce a total of approximately 600 million barrels of oil over the life of the three producing fields, which are located approximately 145km off the coast of Angola in water depths of nearly 2,400m.
The Kizomba C development includes two floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and 36 subsea wells, reportedly making it the largest subsea development operated by an ExxonMobil affiliate worldwide.
The twin FPSO vessels are the fourth and fifth production hubs on Block 15, following Xikomba in 2003, Kizomba A in 2004 and Kizomba B in 2005. Total Block 15 production is expected to amount to approximately 700,000 barrels a day when the Saxi and Batuque fields reach peak production.
Mark Albers, senior vice president of ExxonMobil, said: The timely and cost-efficient development of this resource provides additional production to help meet the world’s growing energy demand. Working closely with Sonangol, we have reached another milestone in developing Angola’s significant petroleum resources in a manner that maximizes the value of the resource for Angola, co-venturers and our shareholders.
