Page 16 - AfrOil Week 34 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Eni is in the final stages of preparing to launch of Ukraine, leading countries including the UK
regular commercial production operations at and Germany to warn that the fuel squeeze
the site, which lies off the coast of Mozambique’s could prompt rationing and trigger a recession.
northernmost Cabo Delgado province, and is In an effort to end their dependence on Russian
targeting first exports next month. (TradeWinds gas, European buyers have been paying high
reported on August 17 that the date of the first prices as they compete with other buyers to
tanker shipment had recently been brought for- secure LNG cargoes ahead of the winter.
ward from the previous date of September 21 to Strong European demand has already led
September 10.) Eni to expand the scope of the Coral South
The Italian major is using the $7bn, 3.4mn LNG project. The Italian major said recently
tonne per year (tpy) Coral Sul FLNG vessel to that it would add a second FLNG facility so that
develop a section of Area 4 in the Rovuma basin, it could expand production within four years.
a zone where several other international oil Eni’s progress also comes as an Islamist
companies (IOCs), among them TotalEnergies insurgency north of Mozambique has disrupted
of France and ExxonMobil (US), plan to invest TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil’s projects.
up to $50bn in developing larger projects. IOCs TotalEnergies had to evacuate workers from its
have already discovered about 5.1 trillion cubic Mozambique LNG project site after the rebels
metres of gas in the basin. attacked a nearby district in early 2021. The
Eni’s first LNG cargo will mark Mozam- conflict has killed more than 4,000 people and
bique’s entry into the ranks of the world’s export- displaced about 800,000 more since its start in
ers as a global energy crunch pushes prices of the October 2017, according to reports. ExxonMo-
fuel to record highs. bil, meanwhile, has delayed a final investment
In Europe, for example, supplies have been decision (FID) on its own Rovuma LNG project,
tight and prices high following Russia’s invasion which is at a less advanced stage. ™

ZPEB delivers first rig for Tilenga oilfield

UGANDA CHINA’S Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration be installed at Tilenga. ZPEB is building two
Bureau (ZPEB) has finished the first drilling rig more rigs and is slated to deliver them in early
that TotalEnergies (France) will use to develop 2023, she informed Monitor.
the Tilenga oilfields in western Uganda, Monitor These three rigs will be used to sink more
reported on August 24. than 400 wells from 31 drilling pads across the
ZPEB delivered the unit, known as ZPEB Rig Gunya, Jobi Rii, Kasemene, Kigogole, Ngiri,
1501, to the French major at its Honghua factory Nsoga and Wahrindi deposits, which are located
in Guanghan, Sichuan province, at a ceremony in the Buliisa and Nwoya districts of Uganda’s
on August 22. Thierry Vinay, TotalEnergies EP Western region, Nabirye added.
Uganda’s consultant in China, noted at the event Tilenga is the main upstream component of
that the rig had just completed a series of endur- the Lake Albert Development Project (LADP),
ance tests. a $10bn initiative that aims to monetise Ugan-
He also described the handover of ZPEB Rig da’s crude oil resources. TotalEnergies aims to
1501 as an important step towards launching launch production at the Tilenga oilfields in
crude oil production at Tilenga in 2025. “This 2025 and will eventually see yields top 200,000
signifies progress towards the commencement barrels per day (bpd). It will export most of
of our drilling activities and subsequent delivery what it produces via the midstream component
of first oil in Uganda,” he said. “Thank you to all of LADP – namely, the East Africa Crude Oil
the teams that have worked tirelessly on building Pipeline (EACOP), a 1,443-km conduit running
this rig, and we look forward to receiving it in from Hoima in western Uganda to Tanga, a port
Uganda.” on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. ™
The unit is due to arrive in western Uganda in
November, Monitor noted.
ZPEB 1501 is a 1,500-hp land rig that is fully
automated, soundproofed and designed to min-
imise carbon emissions. It is a “walking” rig, so
TotalEnergies will be able to move it from one
drilling site to the next without disconnecting
equipment, the newspaper added, citing a state-
ment from the French company.
Meanwhile, Linda Nabirye, external com-
munications and public affairs co-ordinator for
TotalEnergies EP Uganda, noted that ZPEB Rig
1501 was the first of three drilling units that will The Tilenga fields lie at the northern end of Lake Albert (Image: TotalEnergies)

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