Azule Energy Approves $5.1 Billion Greater PAJ Offshore Oil Project in Angola
Claire Weston
Eni-BP joint venture Azule Energy has approved a $5.1 billion investment in Angola's Greater PAJ offshore development, targeting first oil in H1 2029 — Angola's first cross-block integrated project and a milestone for the country's deepwater ambitions.
How big is this project?
Total investment: $5.1 billion, consolidating five offshore fields across two blocks with estimated reserves of 252 million barrels.
The plan calls for 17 wells tied to a newbuild FPSO — a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, essentially an oil-processing plant that sits on the ocean.
Design capacity: 95,000 barrels of oil per day, plus 70 million cubic feet per day of natural-gas export.
This means → a single project locks in a major chunk of Angola's deepwater production growth, ranking among the largest African offshore developments in recent years.
How do five fields become one project?
Greater PAJ spans Block 31 and Block 31/21, combining the Palas, Astraea, and Juno fields with Urano and Dione.
In plain terms = instead of each block building its own infrastructure, five fields now share one offshore production system — cutting duplicate capital spending.
Gas will flow through a new export pipeline into the existing Block 31 network, ultimately reaching Angola's LNG plant. This reflects a design that baked oil-and-gas co-production and export routing in from day one.
Who pays and who operates?
Azule Energy (the Eni–BP joint venture) is the operator of both blocks.
In Block 31/21, Azule holds 50% and Norway's Equinor holds 50%; Azule signed the production-sharing agreement for that block in 2023.
Other partners include Angola's oil-and-gas regulator ANPG and state company Sonangol.
This means → the project ties together European majors, a Nordic state oil company, and Angolan state interests — deep alignment, but also high coordination costs.
First oil in 2029 — can they deliver on time?
The target is first oil in H1 2029, roughly four years from approval.
Whether $5.1 billion in committed capital converts to barrels on schedule will be the real test of this multi-party framework's operational efficiency.
In plain terms = the money is approved, the structure is in place — the exam is the next four years of execution.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.