The giant Pazflor development, which lies 150 kilometres offshore Luanda in Angola, was inaugurated 22 November at a ceremony attended by José Botelho de Vasconcelos, Angola's Minister of Petroleum, Manuel Vicente, Chairman and CEO of Sonangol, Christophe de Margerie, Chairman and CEO of Total, Yves-Louis Darricarrère, President of Exploration & Production at Total; and representatives of Total and the local authorities.

“We are very proud to be inaugurating Pazflor today. With this bold project, Total has pushed back the boundaries of technology. I would like to congratulate all of our teams for making it possible to successfully complete one of the world’s most outstanding oil developments. I would also like to thank our concession holder Sonangol and our partners for their support. Following on from Girassol and Dalia, Pazflor is a new chapter in the remarkable twinned story of Total, its contractors and Angola, allowing us to successfully pursue the Block 17 adventure” Christophe de Margerie commented during the ceremony.

The field came on stream on the 24th of August. Output will reach 220,000 barrels per day and will make Total the leading oil operator in Angola and the African deepwater industry. This position should be cemented when the CLOV project begins production, scheduled for 2014.

Sonangol is the concession holder for Block 17, which is operated by Total E&P Angola, a wholly owned Total subsidiary, with a 40% interest. The other partners are Statoil ASA (23.33%), Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited (20%) and BP Exploration (Angola) Ltd (16.67%).

Tags: Total