Page 18 - AfrOil Week 49

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

BP begins drilling at Platina offshore field

ANGOLA ANGOLA’S National Agency of Petroleum, Gas that the commitment of the big operators has for
and Biofuels (ANPG) reported last week that BP Angola and the work that they continue to do,”
(UK) had launched a new drilling programme he said last week.
at Platina, a section of the offshore licence area BP and its partners have said that they hope
known as Block 18. to extract a total of 44mn barrels of crude oil
According to the agency, BP began drilling from Platina. The field will eventually see output
a new well at the field last week with the Valaris peak at 30,000 barrels per day (bpd).
DS-12, a drillship owned by UK-based Valaris. Oil extracted from the field will be trans-
The firm is slated use this vessel to sink a total of ferred to a floating production, storage and
four new wells, including two development wells off-loading (FPSO) vessel anchored within
and two injection wells, at Platina over a period another section of Block 18 via subsea pipe-
of 12 months. It will also use two cargo ships, line. The FPSO in question is already handling
including one vessel with emergency response from the Greater Plutonio development project,
capabilities and one outfitted with remote oper- which encompasses the Cobalto, Cromio, Galio,
ating vehicles (ROVs), to support the drillship. Paladio and Plutonio oilfields. ™
BP made a final investment decision (FID)
on the Platina project in December 2018 and
said at that time that it hoped to spud its first well
at the field in mid-2020. It was not able to meet
that deadline, though, in light of the coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic and related events that
have rocked the oil sector this year.
Paulino Jerónimo, the president of ANPG,
acknowledged that BP had encountered chal-
lenges on the way to beginning drilling work at
Platina. “We must not forget the difficult period
that the market and the sector is going through
worldwide – and to emphasise the significance Platina’s oil will be piped to the Greater Plutonio FPSO (Photo: BP)

Explosion rocks Engen’s Durban oil refinery

SOUTH AFRICA AN explosion rocked Engen’s oil refinery in Energy in Cape Town, leaving two dead and
Durban, South Africa, on December 4, injuring seven injured.
seven people, local emergency services reported. The Engen refinery was built in the 1950s.
The blast occurred at 05:10 GMT and the Its fate is uncertain, with local media recently
ensuing fire was put out by 06:45 GMT. Local reporting that the facility could be shut in 2023
residents described seeing a large fireball at the and converted into a fuel storage terminal.
centre of the plant, followed by billowing smoke. Several other fires have occurred at the plant
The extent of damage to the facility, capa- over the years. One in 2005 broke out at one of its
ble of processing up to 120,000 barrels per day solvent plants, causing a short shutdown. It had
(bpd) of oil, is unclear as of press time. Operator to be closed down for lengthy repairs in 2008
Engen, majority-owned by Malaysia’s Petronas, after another one.
issued a statement saying it was investigating the The refinery has also been mired with con-
cause of the incident. troversy for decades over its environmental
South Africa hosts six refineries in total, four impact. Specifically, local residents have raised
of which run on crude oil and two on synthetic health concerns about its pollution levels. It has
fuel. But the country is a net importer of petro- also been the target of protests over Engen’s fail-
leum products. The country’s biggest refinery ure to hire local contractors.
SAPREF, a joint venture between BP and Royal “Engen will provide an update about the inci-
Dutch Shell that is located nearby to the Engen dent as soon as further information is available,”
plant, said its operations were unaffected by the a spokesperson for the refinery’s operator said
incident. The two facilities form part of the same in a statement to local press. “Safeguarding the
petrochemical hub. health, safety and well-being of our people, com-
Another fire broke out in July at a 100,000 munity and environment remains our utmost
bpd refinery owned by local fuel supplier Astron priority.” ™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 09•December•2020