Deepwater Angola: A Revitalized Play Concept, the Pinda Group

Paula Maria Dreva Pires Viegas, Geoffrey Grant, Fukieno M. Kuame, and Francisco C. V-Dunem
Sonangol P&P, Luanda, Angola

The Pinda Group of Angola is part of the widespread development of Albian carbonates that have been an important target in the West African Salt Basin from Equatorial Guinea to Southern Angola. In Angola, the Pinda was the major oil-producing fairway before the focus of exploration shifted to Tertiary turbidites in the early 90xs.

In Angola, production from the Pinda Group is exclusively from carbonates and associated sandstones deposited in shallow water environments and currently found both onshore and on the continental shelf. Exploration of Pinda reservoirs in deeper water has so far been disappointing.

Although Albian sedimentation along the West African Salt Basin is dominantly carbonate, important sandstone fairways are known from both the Congo and Kwanza Basins. In the Kwanza Basin, several discoveries were made in the Albian sandstones of the Mucanzo Formation in shallow offshore Blocks 5 & 6, though none proved commercial. More recently, wells in deeper water in the west of Block 5 have proved the extension of these sandstones westward. Sonangol P&P has access to an extensive database of 3-D seismic and wells in this area and the interpretation of these data, together with outcrop analogues has revealed previously unknown Albian depocentres associated with large structures, which form the basis of a new play concept for deepwater exploration in Angola.