Angola’s state-owned Sonangol has given BP and its partners the green light to develop a series of deepwater oil discoveries in Block 31 off Angola.

The first project in the programme will comprise the Plutão, Saturno, Vênus and Marte (PSVM) fields which lie in the northeast sector of Block 31, in a water depth of around 6,562ft (2,000m), 400km north west of Luanda.

PSVM will comprise a converted hull Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel with a storage capacity of 1.6m bbl. The field will have 48 production, gas and water injection plus infill wells, 15 manifolds and associated subsea equipment, 170km of flowlines and 95km of con¬trol umbilicals.

Construction work is expected to start this year, with first oil planned in 2011 and building to a plateau of around 150,000 b/d by 2012.

BP and its partners have made 15 discoveries in Block 31 to date. Full development will comprise multiple hubs similar to the first development (PSVM). The second development will be in the SE area of Block 31 and is in the planning phase.

BP operates the block with a 26.67% stake, while Esso E&P has 25%, Sonangol 20%, Statoil 13.33%, Marathon 10%, and TEPA 5%.