French oil company TotalEnergies and Angola's National Agency for Petroleum and Biofuels (ANPGB) announced, this Thursday, the beginning of drilling of seven wells in Block 17, integrated in the Clov Project, which is expected to reach a production of 40 thousand barrels of oil per day (bpd).

A note from the Angolan side states that the project, launched in 2018 and already going into its Phase 2, aims to adjust current production levels and allow the operator to adapt appropriately to market volatility.

The Clov Project is about 150 kilometers off the Angolan coast, with a water depth of between 1,100 and 1,400 meters, and has resources estimated at 55 million barrels of oil.

"The start of phase 2 of Clov comes at the right time and with the right objective, since Angola needs to mitigate the decline of its oil production and work to increase it in the near future," Belarmino Chitangueleca, president of ANPGB, stressed, quoted in the note.

For his part, Nicolas Terraz, president of TotalEnergies Exploration and Production, also quoted in the note, said that the start-up of Clov Phase 2, a few months after Zinia Phase 2, "is proof of TotalEnergies' efforts to ensure sustainable production in Block 17" stressing the commitment to "focus investments on low-cost projects that contribute to lowering the average intensity of greenhouse gas emissions" of the respective production.

Block 17 is operated by TotalEnergies, with a 38% stake, and has Equinor (22,16%), ExxonMobil (19%), BP Exploration Angola Ltd (15,84%) and Sonangol P&P (5%) as partners.