Why Angola?
The onshore Kwanza Basin contains a proven petroleum system and demonstrated continuation of the well understood offshore system. Existing wells (181) almost exclusively targeted post-salt units, but 28 of these wells targeted the Pre-salt interval, many with oil shows.
Potential exists within rafted fault blocks in Albian and faulted Upper Cretaceous, Pre-salt tilted fault blocks (clastic), and Pre-salt carbonates (on basement highs). There has been significant exploration success in Pre-salt Carbonates on both sides of the South Atlantic margin over the last 20 years.
Significant gas opportunities lie in the deep water Kwanza basin for more prospects like the Omosi-1 discovery, which encountered a 160m gas column in pre-salt carbonates and large 4-way dip closures also identified in Block 37. Further, several oil and gas condensate discoveries have been made in Block 35.
Gas terms are now incorporated into the model PSA and improved fiscal terms introduced by the 2018 marginal fields initiative and the promulgation into law in 2020 of the ability to award open blocks out-of-round, all provide for an attractive fiscal landscape.
Onshore 2023 Public Tender
The onshore 2023 Public Tender for 12 onshore blocks closed on 4 November 2023. The blocks on offer included eight in the Kwanza Basin (KON1, KON3, KON7, KON10, KON13, KON14, KON15, & KON19).
Our Data Coverage
Our Onshore Data
TGS offers 2D seismic data over the entire onshore Kwanza Basin. The data, which was acquired in 2010, is the only modern dataset in the onshore Kwanza region. A total of 2,589km of 2D PSTM and PSDM data is readily available, 679km of which is over the blocks in the upcoming round. In addition, TGS plans to reprocess this data through PSDM to produce an enhanced image of the subsurface, particularly in the pre-salt.
The onshore Kwanza Basin contains a proven petroleum system and demonstrated continuation of the well understood offshore system. Existing wells (181) almost exclusively targeted post-salt units, but 28 of these wells targeted the Pre-salt interval, many with oil shows.
Our Offshore Data
TGS offers 16,000 km2 of 3D seismic data, primarily over blocks 35, 36, and 37 in the highly prospective but underexplored Kwanza Basin included in the 2025 licensing round. Also, around 300 km2 of seismic data is available over Block 34, which is within the current Lower Congo Basin. These data have been reprocessed to take advantage of modern FWI, RTM, and de-ghosting methods to greatly enhance the imaging of base, intra-and sub-salt levels.
Potential
Initial exploration focused on Lower Albian carbonates, then progressed outboard to Tertiary sandstones. However, recent exploration (especially in Kwanza) has concentrated on the pre-salt, the imaging of which is enhanced by the reprocessing of this data.
Syn-rift lacustrine shales are the main known source rocks in the southern offshore part of the outer Kwanza Basin. Neocomian-Barremian sourced oils occur in Lower Albian carbonates in the onshore Kwanza. Offshore, the salt seals underlying carbonate reservoirs and prevents over-maturity of oil in those reservoirs.
TGS identified the main target potential in four-way dip closures of the pre-salt carbonates above the Pre-Chela Unconformity, at depths of 3,300 to 7,300 m. Additional targets were identified in the secondary pre-salt carbonates and sandstones typically 300-1000 m deeper, and targets may occur in combination and stratigraphic traps in the post-salt sequences. TGS has also determined 62 closing leads in the pre-salt across Blocks 35, 36 and 37, above thermally mature upper-rift lacustrine shales which likely will have expelled hydrocarbons throughout these blocks.
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