Page 12 - AfrOil Week 08 2020

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PROJECTS & COMPANIES
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ANGOLA
ALGOA, an Angolan oilfield services provider, has begun building the first of three new drilling platforms for installation at Takula, an offshore oilfield within the Block 0 licence area operated by the US major Chevron.
Last week, Algoa marked the start of work on the first platform, which will be known as Lifua-A, at its fabrication facility in Malembo, a coastal town in Cabinda Province. It marked the event in a ceremony attended by Angola’s Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister, Diamantino Azevedo; Derek Magness, the gen- eral director of Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. (CABGOC); Marcos Alexandre Nhunga, the governor of Cabinda, and several officials from the National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels, known as ANPG.
At the ceremony, Algoa representatives indicated that their company expected to finish work on the Lifua-A platform in about a year. The unit will be installed at the Takula field in the first quarter of 2021, they said.
They did not reveal when the other two platforms, Lifua-B and Lifua-C, were likely to be completed. But they did report that all three platforms would be smaller than existing units anchored at Block 0. With more modest dimen- sions, they said, the new platforms will be in a good position to optimise water injection and production drilling.
The Algoa representatives also noted that the project would require investments of $60mn and would create at least 400 new jobs. Nhunga stressed this point, saying at the ceremony that he expected the Lifua platform project to open up new job opportunities for local youths.
For his part, Azevedo said that Algoa’s efforts marked a step forward for the Block 0 project
and for Angola’s domestic oil sector. “This enter- prise serves as a clear example of the measures that the president of the Republic of Angola, João Lourenço, has been taking in the oil sector, and this infrastructure demonstrates the sense of responsibility towards the country’s provinces due to the youth employment programme,” he was quoted as saying by the national press agency ANGOP.
Takula lies within Block 0 offshore Angola (Image: Chevron)
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Mbogo also said he did not expect the project to experience further delays in light of the deci- sion by Tullow and its partner Total (France) to reduce their stakes in the Kenyan venture.
“[There]wouldbenothingwrongwithit,”he remarked. “Even if we reduce to minority share- holding, we will still maintain a good interest in
theprojectdeliverybecauseitisfeasible.” Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that both Tullow and Total had retained the French investment bank Natixis to serve as agent for the saleofpartoftheirstakesintheKenyanproject. Currently, the former company has a 50% stake
in the scheme, while the latter owns 25%.™
Angolan service company building drilling platform for Takula field
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Week 08 26•February•2020