By Stephanie Daniels
Eni has announced the start of production from the Agogo Integrated West Hub (Agogo IWH) development project, operated by Azule Energy in block 15/06 in the lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola.
Agogo IWH Eni told Energy Window International (Media), would involve the full field development phase of two fields, Agogo and Ndungu, with combined reserves of approximately 450 million barrels and an expected peak production of approximately 180 Kbopd. The beginning of production which was achieved through the successful start-up of the Agogo FPSO according to the Italian firm, took place after only about 29 months from FID, a stride it said was not only far ahead of plan but also recorded 12 months faster than industry average for deepwater projects of similar scale, whilst maintaining constant focus on safety.
The development of Agogo and Ndungu, which was initiated by Eni before establishing Azule Energy, fully reflects and exemplifies, the firm said, Low Carbon, Fast Track development model, aimed at maximizing value whilst minimizing time-to-market, subsurface risks and carbon emissions.
Eni said the model would leverage its “Developing while Appraising” phased approach where fields Eni says, are initially put into production through the exploitation of early phases, which allows to de-risk full field development. It made particular reference with Agogo phase 1 which it said was started up in 2020 with a record time-to-market for deepwater developments, only 9 months after discovery.
It further explained that the model also leverages in-house engineering capabilities and computational power which also allows parallelization of subsurface studies, engineering and procurement during front end loading while fostering a strong grip on the execution phase.
Agogo FPSO also integrates a variety of best-in-class and innovative technologies aimed at minimizing GHG emissions including full electric topside and marine systems and the first offshore combined cycle power generation system of this size, Eni said. “A pioneering pilot Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) unit is also installed onboard the FPSO. Agogo is the first FPSO in Angola where operational carbon emissions are fully offset,” the company also said.
Agogo IWH project is operated by Azule Energy (comprising bp and Eni), with a 36.84% stake alongside partners Sonangol E&P (36.84%) and Sinopec International (26.32%).