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Angola’s Sonangol announces new oil strike in Cabinda

10-02-2007

A new oil well was discovered and drilled in the onshore area of southern Cabinda, Angolan oil company Sonangol said in Luanda. According to a company statement, the well is "Massambala-1," operated by Roc Oil (Cabinda) Company.

The statement said that a secondary well (Massambala-1ch2) was drilled to assess a shallow oil area in the intersection with the first exploration, ”Massambala-1.” This well reached a total depth of 491 meters.

At the end of August the “Massambala-1ch2” well was suspended in order to determine the commercial potential of the strike. However, a preliminary interpretation of the information currently available provided results that point to the likely existence of oil.

Other results confirm that the area of main interest is made up of a 16 meter column of oil.

The southern Cabinda bloc is shared by Roc Oil (operator) with 60 percent, Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção and Force Petroleum, with 20 percent each.