Page 13 - AfrOil Week 05 2020

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil
Malabo changes schedule for Alen project
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
THE government of Equatorial Guinea has said that it hopes Noble Energy (US) and its partners will be able to launch production at the o shore Alen eld before the end of this year.
Noble had originally planned to bring Alen on stream in the rst quarter of 2021, but the Equatoguinean Ministry of Mines and Hydro- carbons indicated in late January that it was hoping for an earlier start date. “Efforts are underway to accelerate [Alen] gas for delivery by year-end 2020, while currently scheduled for rst quarter 2021,” the ministry said in a statement distributed by the African Energy Chamber.
Gas from the eld will help the Equatorial Guinea LNG (EG LNG) plant on Bioko Island secure adequate feedstock, the ministry said, according to S&P Global Platts. The facility needs a new supplier because its main source of gas – the Alba eld, operated by Marathon Energy (US) – is maturing and producing less.
As of press time, neither Noble Energy nor EG LNG (nor shareholders in the latter project) had con rmed the report. Noble’s web page still lists the start date for production at Alen as the rst quarter of 2021.
e Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has said that the EG LNG backfill project will make use of gas from two o shore elds,
Alen and Aseng. Both contain “stranded” gas reserves; that is, they hold sizeable amounts of gas that are di cult to develop economically.
Alba, by contrast, has been furnishing gas to EG LNG’s single production train, with a capac- ity of 3.7mn tonnes per year (tpy), for years. It has also supplied gas to the other two facilities in the Punto Europa complex – namely, a meth- anol plant and a gas- red thermal power plant (TPP).
EG LNG exports liquefied gas via tanker from its Punto Europa terminal. is facility has two storage tanks that can hold 145,000 cubic metres and a 350-metre bridge that is the world’s rst LNG pipe-rack suspension bridge. ™
Alen lies east of Bioko Island (Image: Noble Energy)
Angola extends Block 15 licence
ANGOLA
ANGOLA’S National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) has agreed to extend Exxon- Mobil’s production licence for Block 15, an o - shore site. e agency announced its decision last week, saying that the US giant and its part- ners would be able to continue working at Block 15 until 2032.
According to ANPG, the extension of the production licence will allow ExxonMobil and other investors to push the block’s output up to around 40,000 barrels per day (bpd). It will also support the creation of about 1,000 jobs within Angola, the agency said.
It further noted that provisions for the exten- sion had been made in an amendment to the production-sharing contract (PSC) that covers the block. e amendment also outlines plans for giving Angola’s national oil company (NOC) Sonangol a 10% stake in the project and for dis- tributingtheremainingequityasfollows:36%to ExxonMobil (operator), 24% to BP (UK), 18% to Eni (Italy) and 12% to Equinor (Norway.)
e investors are taking these steps in line
with the commitment agreement that they signed in June 2019. is document states that ExxonMobil and the other investors will carry out a multi-year drilling campaign at Block 15. It also calls for the group to install new equipment and use new technologies to raise production levels at existing wells.
Andre Kostelnik, the director-general of ExxonMobil’s Angolan subsidiary, said that the amendment to the PSC would help his company achieve its goals at the o shore block. “ is col- laboration with ANPG will allow Block 15 to optimise recovery and add oil production from mature elds,” he said.
Paulino Jerónimo, the CEO of ANPG, com- mented: “By means of this agreement, Exxon- Mobil and its partners will contribute to the increase in the investments needed to increase production in the short term and generate more jobsatthelocallevel.”
Block 15 has been in production since 2003. It contains several oil elds, including Kizomba, Mondo and Saxi Butuque. ™
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