The Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit (FPSO) Kaminho, currently under construction in China, is expected to produce around 200 million barrels of oil over its lifetime—equivalent to 75,000 barrels per day—according to Angola’s oil agency.
The figures were presented by Ana Miala, board member of the National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), during a visit—concluded this Thursday—to the shipyards of China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) in the city of Nantong, China. The visit was led by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo.
“We will see the emergence of a new oil province in Angola, which will help increase investor confidence in the Kwanza Basin and strengthen our economy through higher state revenues,” said Ana Miala, as quoted by ANPG.
According to the official, in addition to its oil potential—which is expected to help sustain national production above one million barrels per day—the project also holds gas potential estimated at around one trillion cubic feet.
Kaminho is the first development in the new Kwanza Basin and includes two fields: Cameia, with estimated reserves of 231 million barrels, and Golfinho, with 141 million barrels.
The conversion works for the FPSO Kaminho—being developed from the conversion of an existing vessel—are currently 50% complete, according to the Chinese contractor Saipem.
Part of the SURF package components—equipment installed on the seabed—is being manufactured at Petromar shipyards in Ambriz, Nzeto municipality, in Bengo province, with around 90% Angolan workforce.
An FPSO is a floating oil platform shaped like a ship, anchored at sea, that extracts crude oil from the seabed, processes it onboard, and stores it in its tanks until tanker ships arrive to transport it ashore. In this case, the FPSO is being built through the conversion of an existing vessel—a faster and more cost-effective process than building from scratch—at CMHI shipyards in China, under Saipem’s supervision.
Source: Lusa
