Total has brought on stream its ninth project since the start of this year, its Moho Phase 1b project, 75km off Pointe-Noire, Congo.
The project, with 40,000 boe/d production capacity, sits in 750-1200m water depth and comprises 11 new subsea wells tied back to the existing Alima floating production unit (FPU) on the Moho Bilondo field, operating since 2008.
Moho Phase 1b includes two of the most powerful subsea multiphase pumps in the world, two 3.5MW pumps supplied by OneSubsea, along with ancilliary equipment. The nearby Moho Nord development, with 17 subsea wells due to be tied back to a new build FPU is and a further 17 tied back to a new build tension leg platform (TLP), is ongoing and will add a further 100,000 boe/d of capacity when it comes on stream next year. Hyundai Heavy Industries won the contracts for both the FPU and TLP.
With Moho Phase 1b now on stream, Total operates 10 of the 23 fields offshore Congo, accounting for nearly 50% of the country's production. The entire Moho Nord area, which represents Congo's largest oil project, is expected to have a production plateau of 140,000 boe/d.
“Moho Phase 1b is our ninth start-up since the beginning of the year and will contribute to our strong production growth in the years to come,” commented Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production. “The start-up of this project, in line with the original schedule, constitutes a further success for Total’s growth strategy in deep offshore, particularly in West Africa. It follows the start-up of Dalia Phase 1A on Angola’s Block 17 in July this year and more recently, the Lianzi field which straddles the deep offshore of Congo and Angola.”
Moho Phase 1b and Moho Nord are part of the Moho Bilondo license operated by Total E&P Congo with a 53.5% participating interest. The other partners are Chevron Overseas (Congo) Limited (31.5%) and the Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (15.0%).
Read more