The Dalia field in Angola’s deepwater block 17 is to be developed by Statoil and four other partners at an estimated total cost of USD 3.4 billion.
Statoil’s share of this spending will amount to USD 503 million, reports licence manager Holger Boge.
The project involves installing a production ship and drilling 34 wells for production, 30 for water injection and three for gas injection.
Discovered in 1997, Dalia lies in some 1,400 metres of water and is close to the Girassol field which came on stream in 2001.
TotalFinaElf is operator for block 17. This acreage also includes the Jasmim satellite, which is due to come on stream in the second half of 2003 through a tie-back to Girassol.
Plateau production from Dalia is put at 225 000 barrels per day, slightly higher than on Girassol, and output is expected to start in the third quarter of 2006.
With a storage capacity of roughly two million barrels, the production ship for Dalia will be the same size as the Girassol vessel – regarded as the world’s largest.
The partners will sell their share of the oil independently on the world market, and Mr Boge reports that Statoil intends to trade this crude through its London office.
Statoil has 13.33 per cent of block 17, with ExxonMobil, BP and Norsk Hydro as the other partners in addition to TotalFinaElf.