'Block KON 13 is strategically located in the prolific Kwanza Onshore Basin which represents significant exploration potential in both pre-salt and post-salt plays, with estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil'. Image by Nuno Almeida via iStock
Nigeria's Oando PLC has won operatorship of a block on the onshore side of the Kwanza Basin, marking its entry into the Angolan oil and gas industry.
"Block KON 13 is strategically located in the prolific Kwanza Onshore Basin which represents significant exploration potential in both pre-salt and post-salt plays, with estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil", Oando said in an online statement.
Previously two exploration wells were drilled to a target depth of 3,000 meters (9,842.52 feet), with oil and gas encountered across various depths, it said.
Oando, which won bidding through subsidiary Oando Energy Resources (OER), owns a 45 percent stake. Effimax Energy holds 30 percent, while state-owned Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola EP has 15 percent, according to Oando.
"This development underscores Oando's relentless commitment to expanding our footprint across Africa and contributing to the continent's energy sufficiency goals", said Oando chief executive Wale Tinubu.
OER owns exploration, development and production interests in oil and gas assets onshore and offshore Nigeria and São Tomé and Príncipe. It has 22,447 square kilometers (8,666.83 square miles) of acreage, an oil handling capacity of 483,000 barrels a day, a gas handling capacity of 3,663 million standard cubic feet per day, 3.5 million barrels of terminal capacity, a pipeline network stretching over 1,255 kilometers (779.82 miles), 14 flow stations and a one-gigawatt power plant, according to Oando.
NAOC Takeover
Last year Oando acquired Nigerian Agip Oil Co. Ltd. (NAOC) from Eni SpA for nearly $800 million.
NAOC operates Oil Mining Licenses (OMLs) 60, 61, 62 and 63 in the Niger Delta through the NAOC joint venture with Oando and Nigeria National Petroleum Co. Ltd. (NNPC). Before the transaction with Italian state-backed Eni, NAOC and Oando held a 20 percent stake each in the joint venture while the remaining 60 percent is under NNPC E&P Ltd. Oando has now raised its stake in the four licenses to 40 percent.
The NAOC joint venture portion of Oando's acquisition included "forty discovered oil and gas fields, of which twenty-four are currently producing, approximately forty identified prospects and leads, twelve production stations, approximately 1,490 km [925.8 miles] of pipelines, three gas processing plants, the Brass River Oil Terminal, the Kwale-Okpai phases 1 & 2 power plants (with a total nameplate capacity of 960 megawatts), and associated infrastructure", Oando said August 22, 2024, announcing the closure of the transaction.
Eni's sale also included NAOC's 48 percent and 90 percent operating interests in exploration leases 135 and 282 respectively. However, it did not include NAOC's five percent stake in the Niger Delta-focused Shell Petroleum Development Co. Joint Venture.
"It is a win for Oando, and every indigenous energy player, as we take our destiny in our hands, and play a pivotal role in this next phase of the nation's upstream evolution", Tinubu, the Oando chief executive, said.