Page 9 - AfrOil Week 06 2023

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

Angola could see oil exports

dip below 1mn bpd in March

ANGOLA ANGOLA is set to see crude oil export volumes of the month.
drop below 1mn barrels per day (bpd) in March, Block 17 lies around 150 km off the coast of
the lowest level reported in at least 15 years, Angola in waters ranging from 600 metres to
according to calculations made by Bloomberg. 1,400 metres deep. TotalEnergies has installed
The news agency said on February 6 that its four FPSOs at the block, which is home to the
forecast put Angolan exports at 905,000 bpd Girassol/Rosa, Pazflor and CLOV production
next month, down by 200,000 bpd or 9.52% hubs as well as Dalia. To date, Block 17 has
on the January figure of 1.05mn bpd. It noted yielded around 3bn barrels of crude oil.
that the predicted March figure was the lowest Equity in the project is split between sub-
monthly number it had posted since it began sidiaries of TotalEnergies, with 38%; Equinor
generating the forecast in February 2008. (Norway), with 22.16%; ExxonMobil (US),
Bloomberg explained the projected decline with 19%; BP, (UK), with 15.84%; and Angola’s
in exports by pointing out that Dalia, one of the national oil company (NOC) Sonangol, with
oilfields within the Block 17 licence area oper- 5%. The French major also serves as operator of
ated by TotalEnergies (France), was due for Block 17. ™.
maintenance in March. Dalia typically yields
around 200,000 bpd of crude, and development
operations at the offshore field are supported by
a floating production, storage and off-loading
(FPSO) vessel.
TotalEnergies’ contractors are scheduled to
launch the maintenance programme on Feb-
ruary 20 and will need about 35 days to finish
the job, a spokesperson for the French major
said in late January. They will be responsible
for inspecting equipment, subsea pipelines and
other infrastructure related to flare tips, the
spokesperson told Reuters.
As of press time, Angolan authorities had not
commented on Bloomberg’s forecast of the pro-
jected drop in export volumes next month. Reu-
ters had commented in late January, though, that
the country’s crude export programme looked
“unusually” thin, as it only included 30 cargoes.
It also quoted trading sources as saying that no
Dalia cargoes were likely to be loaded in March
because the field was being shut down for most Maintenance at the Dalia field will reduce output in March (Image: TotalEnergies)

POLICY
Niger River Delta residents launch legal

battle against Shell in UK over oil spills

NIGERIA A group of more than 11,000 residents of com- UK law firm Leigh Day is representing the
munities in the oil-rich Niger River Delta region residents, who blame Shell for the widespread
in southern Nigeria have initiated a legal battle damage caused by oil spills that destroyed their
against Royal Dutch Shell at the High Court in farms, contaminated their drinking water
London. sources, and caused harm to aquatic life.

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