Marathon Oil Corporation announced today that its subsidiary, Marathon International Petroleum Angola Block 31 Limited, and its co-venturers have received approval from Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola - Sonangol E.P. to proceed with the first deepwater oil development project on Angola Block 31, comprised of the Plutao, Saturno, Venus and Marte (PSVM) fields. Marathon's Board of Directors approved the project earlier this year.
PSVM will be the first of multiple developments anticipated in Block 31. Located in the northeast sector of the block, about 250 miles northwest of Luanda, Angola, in a water depth of approximately 6,500 feet, PSVM will utilize a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Key contracts are ready to be awarded and construction work is expected to begin later this year. Peak gross production of about 150,000 barrels per day is targeted in 2012. A total of 48 production, gas and water injection plus infill wells are planned.
"The development of PSVM is an important step in advancing Angola as a new core area of operations for Marathon," said David E. Roberts, Jr., Marathon executive vice president of Upstream. "As the first in an anticipated series of deepwater development projects on Block 31, and potentially on Block 32, PSVM is part of Marathon's strong upstream portfolio of opportunities that form the basis for our defined production growth through 2012 and beyond, as we continue to convert Marathon's significant discovered resource base to proved reserves and production."
Since 2001, Marathon's deepwater exploration program in Angola has generated a total of 27 discoveries and three successful appraisal wells on Blocks 31 and 32. Marathon holds a 10 percent working interest in Block 31, along with the operator BP Exploration (Angola) Limited with 26.67 percent, Sonangol, E.P. with 20 percent, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Block 31) Limited with 25 percent, Statoil Angola A.S. with 13.33 percent and TEPA (Block 31) Limited with 5 percent. Sonangol E.P. is the concessionaire.
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