ExxonMobil makes 20th oil discovery in Angola block that has produced 2.7 billion barrels

Angola’s National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency, known as ANPG, announced on September 9 that the Vicango Este-01 exploration well had encountered approximately 25 metres of high-quality, hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone.

Porosity measures the amount of empty space within a rock that can hold oil or gas. It can indicate reservoir quality, but does not by itself establish how much oil can be recovered commercially.

ExxonMobil and ANPG have not disclosed an estimate of oil in place, recoverable resources or potential production.

New oil from a mature block

Vicango Este-01 is situated in Block 15, approximately 370 kilometres north-west of Luanda, and was drilled in water about 940 metres deep.

ExxonMobil operates the block with a 40% interest.

Block 15 began producing oil in 2003 and has since delivered more than 2.7 billion barrels. The latest find is its twentieth discovery, according to ANPG.

The combination makes Vicango Este different from an isolated frontier discovery. If the find is declared commercially viable, ExxonMobil may be able to connect it to existing Block 15 production infrastructure.

Such a tie-back could reduce construction costs and shorten development time compared with building an entirely new offshore production system.

That remains a possibility rather than a confirmed development plan.

The discovery arrives as Angola tries to slow the decline in output from mature offshore fields. The country left OPEC at the end of 2023 after disagreeing with the group over its production quota and has since intensified efforts to attract investment and recover additional oil from existing blocks.

Earlier in 2026, European energy companies announced a separate discovery estimated at as much as 500 million barrels in Angola. Business Insider Africa previously examined that find and the country’s approximately 7.7 billion to 7.8 billion barrels of proven reserves⁠.

ExxonMobil maintains its African offshore push

ExxonMobil has interests in three producing deepwater blocks in Angola: Blocks 15, 17 and 32. Together, they cover nearly three million gross acres, according to the company’s Angola operations profile⁠.

Its continued investment in Angola and Nigeria shows that deepwater West Africa remains important to the company even as global energy groups face pressure to reduce emissions and return more cash to shareholders.