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Total E&P Angola has given TechnipFMC a contract for the 40,000 b/d Zinia Phase 2 field development on Block 17, at a water depth between 800 and 1,000 metres. The contract covers the engineering, procurement and construction of subsea equipment including nine subsea tree units as well as wellheads, subsea control systems and connection systems.

Soco International announced on 2 July that it had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Quill Trading Corporation and WMLC Resources Limited to sell its shareholding in SOCO Cabinda Limited for up to $5m in cash.Soco’s 85%-owned subsidiary Soco Cabinda holds a 22%, non-operating, working interest in the production-sharing contract for the onshore Cabinda North Block.

Italy’s Eni has announced a new oil discovery on the Kalimba prospect in Block 15/06, estimated to contain 230m-300m barrels of light oil in place. The Kalimba-1 NFW well was drilled by the West Gemini drillship at a site 150km offshore and 50km south-east of the Armada Olombendo floating production, storage and offloading vessel on the block’s East Hub. Drilled in a water depth of 458 metres, the well reached a total depth of 1,901 metres and encountered 23 metres of 33° API oil pay in Upper Miocene sandstones.

Total on 28 May announced a final investment decision to launch the 40,000 b/d Zinia 2 deep offshore development in Block 17, 150km offshore. Production from Zinia 2 will help maintain output from the Pazflor development, which started up in 2011. Total said Zinia 2 was the first of several possible short-cycle developments on Block 17 that would unlock its full potential by connecting satellite reservoirs to the block’s four existing floating storage, production and offloading (FPSO) vessels.

President João Lourenço has signed decrees setting out specific terms to regulate the exploration and production of natural gas and halving tax rates for the development of marginal fields as the new government seeks to maximise earnings from hydrocarbons. The decrees were published in the Official Gazette on 18 May. The gas decree replaces the general principles that previously governed natural gas, under which associated gas had to be made available to Sonangol while non-associated gas could be developed on terms to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Eni announced on 9 May that it had completed the ramp-up of the Ochigufu field on Block 15/06 of Angola’s deep offshore, reaching the production plateau of 24,000 b/d. The field started up on 16 March and allows Eni’s operated production from block 15/06 to stabilise above 150,000 b/d, in line with a goal of adding 54,000 b/d to the block’s production by 2019.

President João Lourenço has issued a decree aimed at speeding up the oil and gas licensing process to encourage new investment in the hydrocarbons sector and revitalise exploration to replace depleting reserves. Presidential Decree 86/18, dated 2 April, eliminates the prequalification phase of the licensing process for all new acreage allocated by state petroleum company Sonangol. The legislation also raises the value threshold above which purchases or contracts for services require public tender.

Eni and Sonangol on 16 March started oil production from the Ochigufu project in Block 15/06 of Angola’s deep offshore. The field will add 25,000 b/d to production levels.Ochigufu is located in 1,300 metres of water, some 150km west of Soyo and 380km north-west of Luanda. The wells are connected subsea to the Sangos production system and from there tied in to the N’Goma floating production, storage and offloading vessel in the Block 15/06 West Hub.

Angolan energy and water minister João Baptista Borges held talks in Kinshasa on 28 February with his Congolese counterpart, Jean-Marie Ingele Foto. The two ministers discussed power supply options for Angola’s Cabinda enclave, which is cut off from the rest of Angola by DRC territory and thus cannot receive power from the Angolan grid.

Angola’s new president João Lourenço has sacked José Filomeno dos Santos as head of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund and set up a committee to manage the body. The sacking of José Filomeno, known as Zenú, the son of former president José Eduardo dos Santos, follows Lourenço’s removal on 15 November of Isabel dos Santos as head of the all-powerful national oil company Sonangol. Isabel’s sacking startled commentators who had thought Lourenço would keep everything much as president dos Santos had left it.

Cobalt International Energy said on 14 December it had filed for bankruptcy to facilitate a restructuring and sale of assets. Cobalt expects to conduct business as usual and have enough cash on hand to fund its operations during the process.The bankruptcy filing comes after several months of efforts to reduce debt and avoid delisting from the New York Stock Exchange after the planned sale of the US company’s 40% holdings in blocks 20 and 21 ran into trouble.

Denmark’s Haldor Topsøe has announced plans for a 2m t/yr fertiliser plant in Soyo in Zaire province using natural gas as feedstock, to supply Angola and the southern African region. The project is valued at $2bn and will take three years to build, chief executive Bjerne Clausen told reporters after meeting President João Lourenço. Local media quoted him as saying the project would create 4,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs.

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) invites bids by 2 January from consultants to help state power producer Prodel prepare the rehabilitation of the Biopio hydropower plant and dam on the Catumbela River in the central province of Benguela. The hydropower plant, which was commissioned in 1957 with four units of 3.8MW, has an estimated installed capacity of 14.4MW. It is currently in an advanced state of disrepair, hindering its operation as well as raising serious safety concerns, according to the tender notice.

Angola’s new president, João Lourenço, and new Sonangol chairman Carlos Saturnino have met the chief executives of Eni and Total and signed new agreements on upstream and downstream activities and renewable energy. Total chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanné met Lourenço and Saturnino on 4 December, paving the way for sanction of the Zinia Phase 2 development on the prolific Block 17. The 40,000 b/d Zinia 2 development will be tied back to the Pazflor floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, one of four on the block.

Sonangol chief executive Isabel dos Santos left a large audience in London in no doubt she was a highly qualified entrepreneur, whose appointment to head the Angolan national oil company (NOC) was made on merit. The task of restructuring Sonangol was a process that could take five years, she said during a rare public interview at the Reuters headquarters in Canary Wharf on 18 October; she was focused on this major challenge above all else, skirting around other elements of the business empire that has made her probably Africa’s richest woman.