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.

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

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).

FLNG Hilli Episeyo to increase utilisation by 200,000 tons in 2022

Partners on the 2.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) Hilli Episeyo floating LNG export terminal offshore Cameroon have agreed to expand capacity utilization by 200,000 tonnes in 2022 and possibly by another 400,000 tonnes from 2023. The project involves national oil company SNH, independent upstream operator Perenco and global LNG infrastructure operator Golar LNG. The Hilli Episeyo is sub-Saharan Africa’s first floating LNG unit. Since its commissioning in 2018, it has operated at half capacity (1.2 mtpa), which will be increased to 1.4 mtpa next year. The capacity increase will be accompanied by the drilling and appraisal of two to three incremental gas wells by the end of 2021 and an upgrade of upstream facilities next year. At the end of 2020, Perenco had already completed works on the Sanaga 2 gas compression platform, which fall within phase 2 of the FLNG project and is already supporting gas production levels at the Hilli Episeyo. Additional capacity utilization could still be further achieved in the near future. “Under the Agreement, Perenco and SNH are granted an option (“Option”) to increase capacity utilisation of Hilli by up to 400,000 tons of LNG per year from January 2023 through to the end of the current contract term in 2026. This has the potential to increase total annual LNG production from Hilli to 1.6 million tons from January 2023 onwards,” Golar LNG said in a statement yesterday. The Hilli Episeyo FLNG project develops Cameroon’s gas both for exports and for the domestic market. While all produced LNG is sold to Gazprom Marketing & Trading, the unit also produces up to 5,000 bpd of condensates and up to 30,000 tonnes of LPG for local consumption. As a result, Cameroon’s LPG imports were reduced by half following completion of all associated gas infrastructure three years ago. The project required substantial infrastructure development, including at the existing onshore Bipaga gas treatment plant which had until then been used to process and supply gas to the 214 MW Kribi gas-to-power plant. On top of 56km of pipeline infrastructure, new facilities were built to provide for the smooth operations of both projects, and the production of condensates and LPG. Full details on the Hilli Episeyo FLNG are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.