Ndungu Early Production (EP) development project is one of the operations located in the deepwater Block 15/06 of Angola.
The project commenced operations in February 2022.
Eni Angola operates Block 15/06 with a 36.84% share. Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção (36.84%) and SSI Fifteen (26.32%) are the other joint venture (JV) partners.
Before Ndungu EP development, Eni Angola achieved the start-up of Cuica Early Production and Cabaca North Development Projects in the same block.
Ndungu Field Location
The Ndungu Field is located within Block 15/06, around 130km off the coast. The site is around 10km from the Ngoma floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The Block 15/06, with an acreage of 2,984km2, is situated in water depths of 300m-1,800m.
The block includes the West Hub and East Hub projects, which commenced operations in 2014 and 2017 respectively.
The Ndungu field was developed as part of Azule Energy’s Agogo Integrated West Hub project.
Ndungu Discovery and Appraisal
In May 2019, Eni announced a light oil discovery in the Ndungu exploration prospect in Block 15/06, around 2km from Mpungi field.
The Ndungu-1 new field wildcat (NFW) well, situated a few kilometres from Eni’s West Hub facilities, was drilled by the Poseidon drillship in a water depth of 1,076m.
The well reached a total depth of 405m.
It proved a single oil column of about 65m with 45m of net pay of high-quality oil (35° API). The hydrocarbons were present in Oligocene sandstones with good petrophysical properties.
The Ndungu 2 appraisal well was drilled around 5km away from Ndungu 1. It encountered 40m of net oil pay (35°API) in the Lower Oligocene reservoirs.
The results of appraisal drilling were announced in March 2022.
Ndungu was the fourth commercially viable discovery in Block 15/06 after Kalimba, Afoxé, and Agogo fields.
Reserves
Following the discovery, the Ndungu discovery was estimated to contain 250 million barrels of light oil with a potential for further upside.
Appraisal activities led to a significant upgrade to the resource base of the discovery with preliminary data indicating 800–1000 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The field is now estimated to contain around 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place.
Ndungu EP Development Details
As part of Agogo Integrated West Hub project, the Ndungu EP development will be linked to the Ngoma FPSO.
The project is expected to produce in the range of 20,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), which will sustain the plateau of the Ngoma.
Ngoma is a 100 kbopd zero-discharge and zero-process flaring FPSO. The vessel was upgraded in 2021 to minimise emissions, under Eni’s decarbonisation strategy.
Agogo Integrated West Hub Development Project
Azule Energy’s Agogo Integrated West Hub project involves production of hydrocarbons from Agogo and Ndungu Fields.
Besides the existing Ngoma FPSO, a new Agogo FPSO will also be used for production. Agogo FPSO is expected to become operational from mid-2026.
Overall, the project includes 36 new wells (21 producers and 15 Injectors). The project development also includes approximately 100km of rigid flowlines, 100km of flexible flowlines, and 100km of umbilicals.
Azule Energy is an equally owned joint venture formed by combining Eni and bp portfolios in Angola. The company was established in August 2022.
Its main assets include bp-operated Blocks 18 and 31 offshore Angola, and its non-operated stakes in blocks 15, 17, 18/15, 29 and NGC, and a participation in Angola LNG JV.
The company received Eni- operated Blocks 15/06, Cabinda North, Cabinda Centro, 1/14, 28 and NGC, as well as other non-operated assets.
Contractors Involved
Azule Energy awarded key contracts worth $7.8bn for the development of the Agogo Integrated West Hub Development Project in February 2023.
Aker Solutions was engaged for the provision of eight infield umbilicals including spares totalling more than 25km in length for the Ndungu project. The contract was valued between NOK500m ($46.3m) and NOK1.5bn ($139m).
The company plans project execution, engineering, and manufacturing at its facility in Fornebu and Moss, Norway. The delivery is planned for the fourth quarter of 2024.
TechnipFMC was contracted to supply flexible pipes for the offshore development in August 2023. The contract is worth between $75m and $250m.
Baker Hughes was engaged by Azule Energy for the supply of Subsea Production Systems and Aftermarket Services, while Saipem would supply Rigid Flowlines and Subsea Structure Transportation and Installation.
Subsea 7 won the contract to transport and install risers, flowlines, and subsea structures.
