Page 6 - AfrOil Week 45 2019
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PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil
The planned pipeline will connect offshore gas fields to the petrochemical complex that is being built at Punto Europa. Saipem will be building the link for a joint venture operated by Noble Energy (US) along a 70-km route originating at the Alen Unit site, which straddles Blocks O and I offshore Equatorial Guinea.
The parties finalised an agreement on the pipeline project in April of this year. The value of the deal has been estimated at $90-100mn.
Saipem expects to finish the pipeline in time to handle initial production from Alen Unit, which is due to come on stream in the first quarter of 2021. The link will have a throughput capacity of 9.82bn cubic metres per year.
Equatoguinean Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said that the approval of Saipem’s contract would promote economic growth in Equatorial Guinea. “We anticipate that this contract, which is being approved exceptionally under the given circumstances, will contribute immensely to
improving the performance of local businesses and the creation of employment, [which] is [a top] priority of the ministry,” he commented last week.
Noble said in May that it was taking steps to promote the development of Alen Unit. It said it was gearing up to make minor modifications to its offshore Alen platform in order to facilitate exports. Gas is due to flow from the platform to the Alba LNG and EG LNG plants in Punto Europa via the new pipeline. According to pre- vious reports, Alba LNG will need to be modi- fied to take delivery of the Alen Unit gas, while EG LNG is already capable of doing so without any special arrangements.
The Alen platform is being transformed into an offshore hub capable of handling gas from Blocks O and I, from other Equatoguinean off- shore fields and from other locations within the Gulf of Guinea region. It will eventually serve as a component of the gas mega-hub that Malabo wants to build in Punto Europa.
Noble Energy’s assets offshore Equatorial Guinea (Image: Noble Energy)
INVESTMENT
Total seen gearing up to sell 12.5% stake in OML 118
NIGERIA
FRANCE’S Total is reportedly looking to unload its minority stake in OML 118, a deep- water field located offshore Nigeria.
Industry and banking sources told Reuters last week that the company had decided to sell its 12.5% holding in the field, which was formerly known as Bonga, as part of a wider effort to adjust its portfolio of African assets to support an expansion programme. Under this programme, Total is set to divest $5bn worth of assets in various regions around the world by the end of next year.
Reuters’ sources did not say when Total hoped to finalise the sell-off. They did state, though, that the French company’s stake in OML 118 could fetch up to $750mn. Addition- ally, they said that Rothschild investment bank had agreed to manage the sale process.
As of press time, neither Total nor the bank had confirmed the report.
Bonga lies 120km offshore from the Niger
River Delta region. It was first discovered in
1996, and Nigeria’s government approved inves-
tors’ development plans in 2002.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 45 13•November•2019
