Angolan state oil company Sonangol and its partners including oil major Chevron have started production at the Mafumeira Sul oil field with an initial output of 10,000b/d, Reuters reported.

The Mafumeira Sul project in Block Zero is situated about 24km off the coast of Malongo and in waters depths of about 60m. The $5.6b project is using early production systems (EPS), while it is being developed to pump an estimated 110,000b/d or more. Chevron’s subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company (CABGOC) is the field’s operator with 39.2% interest, Sonangol at 41%, while Total and Italian Eni hold 10% and 9.8% interests respectively, informed Ecofin Agency.

The development of Mafumeira Sul mainly involves the installation of new platforms, drilling of 34 production wells and 16 water-injection wells, installation of umbilical, riser and flowline (URF) facilities, and 121km of subsea pipelines.

In related news, Egypt Oil&Gas reported that Angola had become China’s largest crude supplier for the second time in September, taking the top position from Russia. China had imported 4.19m tons of oil from Angola during September, averaging 1.02mb/d. This was a 45.8%  increase when compared to import volumes for the same period in 2015.