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 CONGO
BRAZZAVILLE
West Africa
Congo (Brazzaville) produces from rift basins
underlying fan deposits of the Congo River delta. Shallow water
production derives from Cretaceous carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. Although its offshore area is not large with only a short
120 km coastline, it neighbours Angola’s Cabinda region and has
considerable deepwater growth potential. Onshore output is also growing
after new discoveries.
 Oil production in Congo commenced in 1960 from the
onshore Pointe Indienne field reaching 2,500 Bbls per day in 1962 but
the bulk of production is now in shallow waters, dominated by Total,
which has produced offshore oil since 1972.
In 1994, Congo began
offering PSAs to foreign companies to replace joint venture arrangements
in existence since 1968, and in 1995 companies converted their existing
agreements to PSAs.
All the deepwater areas were also licensed in this new
system. Hydro-Congo oversees downstream operations but in 1998 a new
company, the Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) was
established, which assumed all upstream functions and assets in 2000.
The relatively small area of deep and ultra-deep waters
are being explored and so far has had mixed success. There remains potential for further large finds
whilst the first deep water project (Moho Bilondo) is due to come
onstream in 2008.
Congo Brazzaville has large gas reserves. Although the
majority are associated gas some large undeveloped non-associated gas
fields, including the Banga Marine and Litchendjili Marine fields, have
been discovered. Most gas is vented or flared but, as for other West
African countries, efforts are being made to reduce flaring, initially
by installing gas-powered electricity generators.
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