CAPITAL: Brazzaville
MONETARY UNIT: CFA franc
REFINING CAPACITY: 21,000 b/cd
OIL PRODUCTION: 270,000 b/d
OIL RESERVES: 1.5 billion bbl
GAS RESERVES: 3.2 tcf
Deepwater action was slow to catch fire off Congo, but several shallower-water developments were going on production.
Elf as operator started up N`Kossa field in mid-1996, and it averaged 80,000 b/d by early 1997 and was to reach 122,000 b/d in 1998. It is a 500 million bbl field on the Haute Mer Block.
About 15 km west of N`Kossa field on Haute Mer is the Elf-operated 1995 Moho discovery in 2,600 ft of water. That field, possibly as large as 400 million bbl, has complex reservoirs that have made reserves estimation difficult.
Elf Congo won the 5,070 sq km Mer Tres Profonde Sud Block, one of the last available permits for deepwater exploration off Congo. Water is 2,000-3,000 m deep. The block is south of Mer Profonde Sud, which was a seaward extension of Haute Mer.
An Agip SpA group was preparing to start production from Kitina field on the Marine VII Block. Production was to peak at 45,000 b/d by early 1999.
An Agip group was to start oil production in August 1998 from two subsea wells in Djambala field through an 11 km pipeline to the platform at Kitina oil field, which Agip was also developing. Djambala is 55 km offshore.
Exxon, which holds 2.22 million acres in three deepwater blocks, opened an office in Pointe Noire. Exxon held nearly 10 million deepwater acres off Angola, Congo, and Nigeria.
Sasol Petroleum International (Pty.) Ltd., Johannesburg, planned to develop its first oil discovery, Djambala field. The field was expected to go on stream less than 2 years after discovery, with initial output of 4,000 b/d, in August 1998.
Plans called for two subsea wells tied back to a platform to be installed in Kitina field about 11 km south of Djambala. Oil will be partially treated on the platform before shipment via the main oil pipeline to the Djeno terminal for stabilization and storage prior to export. Interests are operator Agip Recherches Congo SA 52%, state oil company Hydrocongo 35%, and Sasol 13%.
