Exxon Mobil Corporation today announced the CLOV project in Angola started up on schedule and is expected to reach daily production capacity of 160,000 barrels in the coming months.

CLOV is the fourth major development hub of Total-operated Block 17, after Girassol, Dalia and Pazflor. An ExxonMobil affiliate has a 20 percent working interest in CLOV, which will produce oil from the four fields of Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea and Violeta at water depths ranging from 3,600 feet to 4,593 feet.

“Block 17, along with Esso Angola-operated Block 15, in which the company has a 40 percent working interest, are the most productive blocks in Angola,” said Neil Duffin, president of ExxonMobil Development Company.

CLOV, located 87 miles offshore Luanda, includes 34 wells and eight manifolds connected by 112 miles of subsea pipelines to a floating production storage and offloading vessel and crude oil offloading terminal. The 1,000-foot-long, 197-foot-wide vessel can store up to 1.8 million barrels of oil. Natural gas produced at CLOV will be exported through a subsea pipeline to an Angola liquefied natural gas plant in Soyo.

CLOV produces two types of oil from the Miocene and Oligocene geological horizons. Miocene oil is more viscous than Oligocene oil and required a subsea multiphase pump system for transportation to boost co-mingled fluid and enhance oil recovery. The project was completed with more than 10 million hours performed by a local workforce to complete fabrication and assembly of the storage and offloading vessel in Angola. The water treatment module, a critical component of the vessel, was built and installed in Angola, a first for the country. The project also provided training programs for local personnel and played a part in enhancing the country’s socio-economic development.

“CLOV is another indication of ExxonMobil’s commitment to Angola, where we have been involved for about 20 years,” Duffin said. “ExxonMobil continues to evaluate additional development opportunities in the country.”

Sonangol is the concessionaire for Block 17. Total has 40 percent interest, Statoil has 23.33 percent, and BP has 16.67 percent.
ExxonMobil affiliates’ Angola interests also include 15 percent of the Kaombo project, located in southeast area of Block 32, which launched development of six fields in April. Production in Block 15 from Kizomba Satellite Phase 1 started in 2012 and Phase 2 project development is underway with production startup targeted for 2015.