Total: Biggest Deep Offshore Development in Angola Starts Production

Total has revealed that it has started production at Kaombo, which it describes as “currently the biggest deep offshore development in Angola”.

The company announced that Kaombo Norte, the first Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit, has been brought on stream and will produce an estimated 115,000 barrels of oil per day. The second FPSO unit, Kaombo Sul, is expected to start up next year, according to Total.

Overall production will reach an estimated 230,000 barrels of oil per day at peak and the associated gas will be exported to the Angola LNG plant, Total said.

In a statement published on Total’s Twitter page, the company said “with 365 kilometres (226 miles) of underwater pipelines, Kaombo features Angola’s largest ever subsea network for a single project”.

Arnaud Breuillac, president of exploration and production at Total, said the Kaombo start-up was “a great milestone” for Total.

“Developing the estimated 650 million barrels of reserves will contribute to the group’s growing production and cashflow in Africa,” Mr Breuillac said.

“Total is proud to build on its deep offshore expertise to operate the latest major project coming on stream in Angola, which will account for 15 percent of the country’s oil production. Once more, this demonstrates the group’s long-term commitment to help develop the oil and gas industry in the country,” he added.

Total operates Block 32, in which Kaombo is located, with a 30 percent participating interest, along with Sonangol P&P (30 percent), Sonangol Sinopec International 32 Limited (20 percent), Esso Exploration & Production Angola (Overseas) Limited (15 percent) and Galp Energia Overseas Block 32 BV (5 percent).

Total is Angola’s leading oil operator and employs approximately 1,350 people in the country, according to its website.

Source: Rigzone