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TechnipFMC sees $3bn of subsea opportunities in Africa within 24 months

Photo credit: TechnipFMC

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TechnipFMC sees subsea opportunities across Nigeria and Angola totaling between $3bn and $5bn within the next 24 months, the company said during its Q2 2021 earnings conference call.
The subsea market in the region will be heavily driven by TotalEnergies’ projects in Angola. These notably include the development of the Begonia (Block 17/06) and Cameia (Block 21) fields, but also the execution of two subsea tieback projects on producing blocks. These include Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea and Violeta (CLOV) Phase 3 on Block 17 and the ACCE project on Block 31 (an acronym for the Alho, Cominhos and Cominhos East fields). Block 17 has been subject to significant subsea activity recently, with the commissioning of Zinia 2 earlier this year and the ongoing execution of Dalia 3 and CLOV 2.

Also offshore Angola, TechnipFMC expects to see contracts awarded for the development of Eni’s recent discovery on Block 15/06.

Meanwhile, the integrated energy services provider sees two projects moving forward in Nigeria that could support the subsea market in the country. One is the development of the Preowei field on OML 130, operated by Total and whose field development plan has been approved since 2019. The other one is further development of the Shell-operated Bonga asset on OML 118. In May 2021, new agreements were executed for OML 118 between the NNPC and contractor parties SNEPCo (Shell), ExxonMobil, Total and NAOC (Eni).

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Angola produces 3.1m carats of diamonds in four months

From January to April 2021, the country produced the equivalent of 620 kilos of diamonds, with the goal of reaching 9.1 million carats by 2022. Angola produced a total of 3.1 million carats of diamonds (620 kg) from January to April this year. This is a reasonable performance given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Alexandre Garrett, director of the Planning and Statistics Office of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, during a local forum on the banking and mining sectors. Angola will continue to support operators to increase diamond production and reach the target of 9.1 million carats (1,820 kg) by 2022, he added. Also present at the forum, Canga Xaquivuila, director of the Angolan Institute of Geology, said his organization would further develop the country’s significant mineral resources. “The geological institute acts as a gateway, not only to examine and improve the quality and quantity of existing minerals, but also to pave the way for new discoveries and contribute to the revitalisation of the sector, with the objective that it becomes more integrated and adapted to a good business environment”, Xaquivuila said. With a production of 8 million carats per year, Angola is now ranked fifth in the world among diamond-producing countries.

Work has really started at the Trans-Gabon Highway

Officially launched in September 2020, the project of the new Economic Route of Gabon, dubbed “Transgabonaise”, which covers 780 kilometers from the Estuary to Haut-Ogooué, made several steps forward in recent weeks. The coating work was launched last August at PK 56, six kilometers from the base camp that the Minister of Public Works, Léon Armel Bounda Balonzi, visited a few weeks earlier. The first section of the Transgabonaise will stretch 81km and includes the Ebel Abanga-Bifoun axis, presented by users as the “path to hell”. Last May, the Gabon Highway Company (Société autoroutière du Gabon, SAG) informed that the delivery of this first section, which goes from PK24 and PK105 (Nkok and after Kango-Nsilé), will be effective in July 2022. SAG, which is in charge of construction works, had blamed delays on logistics difficulties in the transport of the material and components of the project. Things now seem back to normal, and deadlines can expected to be met. Upon completion, the 828km highway will link Libreville to Franceville and cross six of Gabon’s nine provinces. It will notably establish a strong and reliable connection between the country’s agricultural basins and provide for an efficient logistics corridor for the moving of goods within Gabon.