(EnergyAsia, August 7 2012) — US major Chevron Corp said it and its partners have approved plans to separately develop a field off the west African coasts of Congo and Angola, as well as explore off Suriname in Latin America.

An international consortium led by subsidiary Chevron Overseas Congo Limited will invest US$2 billion to develop the Lianzi field located in a unitised zone off Congo and Angola. The consortium’s other members include France’s Total (36.75%), Italy’s ENI (10%), Angola’s Sonangol (10%), Republic of Congo National Oil Company or SNPC (7.5%), and GALP (4.5%).

Located 105 km offshore in approximately 900 meters of water, Lianzi will be developed jointly using the company’s existing Benguela Belize Lobito Tomboco (BBLT) platform now operating in Angola’s Block 14.

Chevron said it will build a subsea production system and a 43km electrically heated flowline – the first of its kind at this water depth – to deliver oil from the field to the platform from 2015, with production peaking at 46,000 b/d of oil equivalent.

Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company, said:

“As the first cross-border development in the region, Lianzi represents a unique cooperative approach to shared offshore resources and may serve as a model for the development of similar cross-border fields between the two countries.”

George Kirkland, Chevron’s vice chairman, said:

“Lianzi is Chevron’s first operated asset in Congo and builds on Chevron’s strong position in West Africa, one of the world’s key hydrocarbon basins.”

Earlier, Chevron Global Energy Inc and US firm Kosmos Energy agreed to an equal joint venture to explore in a new geological area off the coast of Suriname in Latin America.

Kosmos will be the operator of Blocks 42 and 45 during the exploration phase while Chevron will take over following any commercial discoveries.

Blocks 42 and 45 are located approximately 250 km from Paramaribo and cover a combined area of approximately 2.8 million gross acres, at water depths ranging between 200 and 2,600 metres.

Mr Kirkland said: “This agreement enables us to explore for new resources in this frontier basin. These blocks are on trend with new deepwater Cretaceous discoveries in the region.”

Mr Moshiri said: “We are very pleased to participate in Suriname’s emerging energy sector. These blocks will expand our exploration portfolio in Latin America.”