adminLUANDA. — Total South Africa will decide whether to proceed with the Kaombo oil project offshore Angola by mid-2014, the same time as it plans to start pumping from the Clov fields that may help push the country ahead of Nigeria as Africa’s largest crude producer. Feasibility studies are underway for the 600-million-barrel Kaombo site in Block 32, which is expected to produce 200 000 barrels a day after its scheduled start by mid-2017, Mr Jean-Michel Lavergne, the local unit’s general manager, told reporters yesterday in Porto Amboim, Angola, 260 kilometres south of the capital, Luanda.
He was leading a tour of the first floating production, storage and offloading vessel to be finished in Angola with local labour.
The US$10 billion Clov project in Block 17 will produce 160 000 barrels a day, helping Angola achieve a target of two million barrels a day by 2015 and rival Nigeria as the continent’s leading producer.
Paris-based Total, which pumps the most crude in Angola, is among companies such as Chevron Corporation, BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corporation being urged by the state to use more Angolans in an industry that employs just 1 percent of nationals while accounting for nearly all exports.
“One third of current Angolan oil is produced by Total,” Lavergne said. “We want to help young Angolans to obtain quality education so that they can have decent jobs with good salaries,” Lavergne said.
Angola pumped 1,71 million barrels a day in October compared with 1,99 million barrels a day by Nigeria, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Cobalt Energy International Company’s Cameia, Mavinga and Lontra projects will further boost the country’s output, Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said two weeks ago.
Total currently pumps about 600 000 barrels a day in Angola, according to company documents. Lavergne said the company plans to drill two wells next year in Blocks 25 and 40. He said each well reaching six kilometres below sea level will cost US$120 million.
“Total spent US$1,6 billion in Angola on Clov, hires 100 nationals each year and will invest US$4 million in the Porto Amboim community,” Lavergne said.
In June, Lavergne said Total is increasing the number of Angolans on its staff to 76 percent this year from 68 percent in 2006 and half the managers will be locals.
Clov, which stands for the fields Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea, and Violeta, has 34 sub-sea wells at depths of 1,1 to 1,4 kilometres located 140 kilometres northwest of Luanda and is estimated to hold 505 million barrels of crude, company documents show.
“The 305-metre-long Clov FPSO, as it’s known, will be christened on December 5 at the Paenal Porto Amboim Estaleiros Navais fabrication yard at Porto Amboim,” Lavergne said yesterday.
A Paenel crane, Africa’s largest, added final units to the US$2 billion ship constructed by Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine and Engineering Company in South Korea.
The FPSO can store 1,78 million barrels of oil and process 160 000 barrels a day. It will produce two types of oil: 32-35 degree American Petroleum Institute gravity, which is considered light oil, from the Cravo and Liro fields and 20-30 degree API medium-weight-oil from Orquidea and Violeta, the company said. A crane called Jamba with capacity to lift 2 500 metric tonnes was installed in June at Paenal to work on the 119 000-tonne Clov FPSO, N’goma FPSO for Exxon Mobil and the Mafumeira Sul project for Chevron.
Crews manufactured 7 700 tonnes of equipment for the Clov ship and installed units on its deck including a water treatment module, company documents show.
After Girassol, Dalia and Pazflor, Clov is the fourth deep-water project to be undertaken on the block operated by Total with a 40 percent share.
Partners include Statoil ASA (STL) with 23,3 percent, Exxon Mobil with 20 percent and BP at 16,7 percent. — Bloomberg.
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