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THE OIL & GAS YEAR
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
ARTICLES | INTERVIEWS | VIEWPOINTS | MARKET ANALYSIS | RESOURCES | PROJECTS | MAPS | INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS
THE OIL & GAS YEAR
CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
9 781783 020867
ISBN 978-1-78302-086-7
2014
www.theoilandgasyear.com
CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE
Adapt to thrive
André Raphaël LOEMBA
Minister of Hydrocarbons
Future prominence
Jérôme KOKO
Director General
SNPC
Total’s challenge
Pierre JESSUA
Director General
TOTAL E&P CONGO
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
THE OIL & GAS YEAR
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
In partnership with:
CONTENTS
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
Diplomacy & Policy
Exploration & Production
About 15 years after the end of its civil war,
Congo-Brazzaville continues its momentum
towards a more stable political environment.
The country has embarked on gradual reforms of the economy, extending to oil and
gas activities. Tax allowances for major oil
companies and a more relaxed profit-sharing
scheme have led to a new influx of foreign
investment by international oil companies.
With projects such as Total’s $10-billion Moho
Nord and full-scale production expected in Eni’s
Nene Marine field in 2016, Congo-Brazzaville
is attempting to stem the steady decline in its
oil production. Eni’s multi-billion-dollar oil
sands initiative is also underway in the country.
These developments are anticipated to
strengthen the national economy, with international oil companies appearing hopeful
about Congo-Brazzaville’s long-term prospects.
8 THE YEAR IN REVIEW
9 INTERVIEW: André Raphaël Loemba, Minister of
Hydrocarbons
9 IN PRODUCTION: Regional oil production, 2009-2013
12 INTERVIEW: Jérôme Koko, SNCP
13 THE YEAR’S AWARDS
14 CONGOBRAZZAVILLE AT A GLANCE
15 THE INVESTORS INDEX
16 THE YEAR IN ENERGY
18 DIPLOMACY & POLICY
19 ARTICLE: Infrastructure on the way. The end of CongoBrazzaville’s civil war in 1999 has paved the way for a stable
economy and an influx of foreign investment
20 IN BUSINESS: Ease of Doing Business rankings among
sub-Saharan countries
21 INTERVIEW: Florent Michel Okoko , EITI
21 IN EXPORTS: Value of Congo-Brazzaville’s oil exports
22 INTERVIEW: Christian Barros, Unicongo
24 ARTICLE: Natural gas policy in Congo-Brazzaville.
Overcoming obstacles to gas production
25 INTERVIEW: Sylvestre Didier Mavouenzela, Chamber of
Commerce
25 IN ACCOUNTS: Congo-Brazzaville’s current account
balance estimates
26 EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION
27 ARTICLE: Projects on the horizon. Congo-Brazzaville
seeks to reverse trends of declining production
28 IN CAPACITY: Major oil producers’ estimated yearly
production capacity by ﬁeld, 2012
29 MAP: Hydrocarbons block map
30 GEOLOGY REPORT: Congo Basin petroleum geology
31 INTERVIEW: Pierre Jessua, Total E&P Congo
32 COMPANY PROFILE: Soco EPC
33 PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: Mengo-Kundji-Bindi ﬁelds
development
THE OIL & GAS YEAR | CONGOBRAZZAVILLE 2014
34 COMPANY PROFILE: Maurel & Prom
35 COMMENT: Near-term trophies. Congo-Brazzaville’s presalt shows potential for future discoveries while Eni, Total
and Chevron continue work onshore and in shallow water
36 INTERVIEW: Pierre Narcisse Loufoua, Groupe AOGC
36 IN COMPARISON: Congo-Brazzaville crude oil
production and consumption, 2004-2013
37 COMPANY PROFILE: CNOOC
38 INTERVIEW: Cyriaque Etroubeka, Sonarep
38 IN PRODUCTION: Actual and predicted oil production
from Mengo-Kundji-Bindi ﬁelds
40 THE YEAR’S FOCUS: Moho Nord
41 ARTICLE: A new hope. Total’s $10-billion Moho Nord
project is targeting first oil by 2016 and a peak output of
140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day
41 IN THE GROUND: Reserves of projected oﬀshore ﬁeld
developments in Africa, 2013-2017
42 COMPANY PROFILE: Aker Solutions Congo
43 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT: Hyundai Heavy Industries, Doris
Engineering, Ponticelli Frères
44 MAP: Moho Nord watercolour
45 INTERVIEW: Kevin Legris, Technip
46 BANKING, LEGAL & FINANCE
47 ARTICLE: Helped by healthy ﬁnancials. Congo-Brazzaville
has established a sovereign wealth fund and is considering
new financial options for the development of the sector
48 IN GROWTH: Congo-Brazzaville’s GDP growth rate, 20042013
49 COMPANY PROFILE: Société Générale Congo
50 INTERVIEW: Emmanuel Le Bras, PwC Congo
51 COMMENT: Estimates of fast growth. Outlook for the
CEMAC
52 MARKET ANALYSIS: Legal changes a boon for advisers.
Robert Prosper Nken, KPMG Congo
53 COMMENT: Eni bets on Congo-Brazzaville. Eni’s activities
worldwide and its opportunities in Congo-Brazzaville
www.theoilandgasyear.com
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
The Oil & Gas Year is audited by BPA Worldwide
CONTENTS
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
The Year’s Focus: Moho Nord Banking, Legal & Finance
Engineering & Construction
Total’s $10-billion Moho Nord project is not
only Congo-Brazzaville’s first deepwater offshore development but is also the largest field
development programme the country has undertaken. The company is targeting first oil by
2016 and peak output at 140,000 barrels of oil
equivalent per day by 2017. If this goal is met,
it will place Congo-Brazzaville in the top-three
hydrocarbons producers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Activity has been rife in Congo-Brazzaville’s
construction industry, especially in the offshore
sector. Developments driven by Eni and Total
have attracted a raft of international contractors to the country. In 2014, competition is
fierce and tight margins are prevalent in the
domestic hydrocarbons market. Companies
operating in the country include Saipem subsidiary Boscongo, as well as France’s Technip.
Congo-Brazzaville is both reforming its legislation governing the hydrocarbons industry
and seeking to further develop its financial
services sector. By providing a wider range
of financial options for producers, facilitated
by its legal regime, the government hopes
to achieve sustainable economic growth on
the back of its energy wealth, while it is also
looking to play a more active role in the Economic Community of Central African States.
54 MARKET ANALYSIS: Sub-contractors’ paradise lost?
Roland Bembelly, Cabinet Gomes
55 INTERVIEW: Marc Alexandrenne, Deloitte Congo
55 IN OIL RENT: Oil rent as proportion of GDP, 2003-2012
56 ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION
57 ARTICLE: Blended oil projects. Major domestic projects are
encouraging competition in associated sectors
57 IN EXPENDITURE: Forecasted capex in sub-Saharan
offshore sector by operator, 2013-2017
58 IN EXPENDITURE: Forecasted capex in sub-Saharan
offshore sector by build process type, 2008-2012 and
2013-2017
60 COMPANY PROFILE: Boscongo
60 IN YARDS: Size of Saipem fabrication yards in
southwestern Africa
61 PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: Pointe-Noire Fabrication Yard
62 COMPANY PROFILE: Socofran
63 COMPANY PROFILE: Renco Congo
65 COMPANY PROFILE: Sicim
66 COMPANY PROFILE: GNCAC
66 IN EXPENDITURE: Capital expenditure in sub-Saharan
offshore sector by segment
67 COMMENT: Connections across difficult terrain. A
pipeline project between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville
poses challenges due to lack of infrastructure
68 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS: Foselev Congo, Tractafric
Equipment Congo, Lassarat Congo, Prozydak
69 COMPANY PROFILE: Subsea 7
69 IN REVENUES: Subsea 7’s revenues by region in 2013
70 COMPANY PROFILE: Bouygues Energy and Services Congo
71 ARTICLE: Built to last. Congo-Brazzaville’s developing
shipbuilding industry
72 OFFSHORE INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES
73 ARTICLE: Offshore, on target. Despite Murphy Oil’s
imminent move out of Congo-Brazzaville’s offshore, projects
such as Total’s Moho Nord are encouraging optimism
THE OIL & GAS YEAR | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
73 IN RIGS: Types of drilling rigs in Congo-Brazzaville
74 IN RIGS: Global rig utilisation by region, November 2014
FOLDOUT MAP: Offshore hydrocarbons infrastructure
75 COMPANY PROFILE: Jifmar
76 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS: Searov Offshore, RK Offshore
Congo, Tidewater Marine International, Petro Services
77 INTERVIEW: Benoît Baudet, Bourbon Offshore Surf Congo
77 IN DEVELOPMENT: Water depths of major offshore field
developments in West and Central Africa
78 OILFIELD & ASSOCIATED SERVICES
79 ARTICLE: Pre-salt is the name of the game. Services
companies eye a slew of new upstream projects as
upstream investment spurs on local growth.
79 IN EXPORTS: Major exports destinations of CongoBrazzaville in 2012
80 IN IMPORTS: Percent changes in import volumes of all
items including goods and services, 2011-2015
81 MARKET ANALYSIS: More under the surface. Indira
Moudi, Baker Hughes
82 COMPANY PROFILE: Halliburton
83 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS: SGS Congo, Bureau Veritas
Congo
84 COMPANY PROFILE: Weatherford
85 COMMENT: Efforts to cap costs. Costs of deepwater
exploration are rising in West Africa
86 COMPANY PROFILE: Inter-Continental des Services
87 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS: Expro Worldwide BV Congo,
Air Liquide
88 ARTICLE: Look local. Congolisation is a slow process that
will benefit all industry actors in the country
89 COMPANY PROFILE: Servtec
90 COMPANY PROFILE: Prezioso
91 VIEWPOINT: A promising market. Fabio Ottonello, Group
Otto
92 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS: Scab Congo, Apave Congo,
SPIE Oil and Gas, Iota Group
93 MARKET ANALYSIS: Add local value. Pierre Balmefrezol,
Ogas Solutions
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The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
THE OIL & GAS YEAR
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
CONTENTS
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
Oilfield & Associated Services Ports & Logistics
Gas, Power & Downstream
Congo-Brazzaville is expected to surpass Equatorial Guinea to become sub-Saharan Africa’s
third-largest oil producer by 2017, encouraging
a number of international services providers
to enter the market. 2015 and 2016 are set to
host a flurry of new activity, but as drilling will
be conducted largely in subsea basins off the
coast of the country and transportation networks centre on the Pointe-Noire port, these
projects are expected to be logistically sound.
Congo-Brazzaville has increased the share of gas
in its electricity production from close to zero in
2004 to 37 percent by the end of 2011, according
to the World Bank. The development of the power
generation sector in the country has been driven
by this increase in the usage of natural gas, alongside an expansion of its hydropower capacity.
Government policy to develop power-generation
infrastructure has set the country on the path towards achieving stable economic development.
As Congo-Brazzaville attempts to reverse a
recent trend of declining oil production, while
also diversifying its economy away from its
dependence on hydrocarbons, pressure on its
logistics infrastructure is mounting. Much of
this network is uncompetitive, which is negatively impacting the country’s oil and gas industry. A number of projects are underway
to try to improve the transport environment.
94 PORTS & LOGISTICS
95 ARTICLE: Infrastructure impulse. Congo-Brazzaville’s
infrastructure requires substantial work
96 IN TRANSIT: Congo-Brazzaville’s Logistics Performance
Index rankings, 2010-2014
98 INTERVIEW: Pierre Bellerose, Bolloré Africa Logistics
Congo
98 IN COSTS: Import cost per twenty-foot container, 2013
99 COMMENT: Joint forces. Total teams up with Qatar
Petroleum International on the Moho Nord project
100 MARKET ANALYSIS: Point of entry. Denis Cordel,
Necotrans Congo
101 COMMENT: A transport corridor. The development plan
of the port of Brazzaville
102 COMPANY PROFILE: NileDutch Congo
103 COMMENT: African ports out of step. Africa needs bigger
port infrastructures
104 INTERVIEW: Alain Ludovic Okoi, ILOGS
105 COMPANY PROFILE: TLC CONGO
105 IN SHARES: Ownership of the Lianzi field
106 COMPANY PROFILE: Chemin De Fer Congo-Océan
107 VIEWPOINT: Improved logistics. Andrew Colquhoun,
Fortis Logistique
108 INTERVIEW: Frederik De Vos, SCLOG
108 IN CREDIT: Getting Credit rankings, 2014
109 MAP: Regional logistics network
110 GAS, POWER & DOWNSTREAM
111 ARTICLE: Electrification as enlightenment. CongoBrazzaville is attempting to change the structure of its
power supply by increasing the share of natural gas
111 IN RETAIL: Service stations by brand in CongoBrazzaville, April 2014
113 COMPANY PROFILE: Gas Management Congo
113 IN VOLUME: Storage of petroleum products by city, 2013
114 PROJECT HIGHLIGHT: Litchendjili Gas Plant
115 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHTS: Dietsmann, Puma Energy, XOil Congo, Total Distribution
116 EXECUTIVE GUIDE
117 ACCOMMODATION
121 EVENTS
123 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | ADVERTISERS INDEX
124 IN BRIEF
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THE OIL & GAS YEAR | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
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INTERNATIONAL
Exploring knowledge
Extracting intelligence
Refining communication
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
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THE YEAR IN REVIEW
9
Adapt to thrive
12 Future prominence
Jérôme KOKO
Director General
SOCIÉTÉ NATIONALE DES PÉTROLES DU CONGO
13 The Year’s Awards
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Adapt to thrive
In addition to reviewing its Hydrocarbons Code in April 2014, CongoBrazzaville’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons also announced intentions to have a new
bidding round for 10 permits. Minister of Hydrocarbons André Raphaël Loemba
talks to TOGY about how law revisions and new exploration activities are set to
raise the Central African country’s international oil and gas profile.
Does the Hydrocarbons Code need a revision?
Congo-Brazzaville’s Hydrocarbons Code dates
back to 1994. Many things have changed in the
last two decades in the global petroleum industry,
so we must adapt our legal and ﬁscal framework
to the economic, technological, environmental
and social challenges of the world in 2014.
In Congo-Brazzaville’s case, after 30 years of
production, many of the oilﬁelds have reached
their mature phase. We must create a law that
puts an emphasis on renewing our reserves and
battling the natural decline of these ﬁelds. We
need new attractive legal and ﬁscal framework
that is balanced, taking into consideration the
global trends of the oil and gas industry.
How is the use of natural gas factored in?
This subject is important and strategic for the
country, and we are taking measures that will
allow us to augment our gas reserves, including
addressing them in the new Hydrocarbons Code
I believe Congo-Brazzaville’s natural gas will be
eﬀectively used in a number of ways.
Firstly, it will be used to create electricity,
which is a fundamental necessity for the development, modernisation and industrialisation of
our country. The power plant at Côte-Matève,
which has a capacity of 300 MW, will undergo a
large expansion. This expansion will occur in
parallel with the increase in gas production from
the Marine 12 permit, operated by Eni Congo.
Secondly, LPG, butane and propane will be
a large part of this initiative. We must increase
our production capacities, transport and distribution so that LPG can be distributed to all
corners of Congo-Brazzaville. As a result, we will
decrease reliance on wood as an energy source.
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
Thirdly, studies are underway to determine the
cost of using gas to create urea and ammonia.
Depending on the reserves, it could also be
possible to build an LNG export terminal. A gas
master plan is being developed, which will allow
us to adapt a strategy that takes into consideration
our reserves as well as the needs of the country.
What is the importance of the three major
projects underway in the country?
Total’s Moho Nord, which is the largest project
ever established in Congo-Brazzaville, will not
only bring us additional reserves, but also a high
level of activity with ﬁrst oil expected in 2016.
Eni Congo’s Litchendjili development will allow
us to ensure sustainable natural gas supplies for
the power plant at Côte-Matève. Finally, Chevron’s
Lianzi development, which has been green-lit
as a result of a unitisation agreement between
Congo-Brazzaville and Angola, reinforces the relations between the two countries.
We are putting a strong emphasis on local
content with all these projects, notably the recruitment of local personnel, training and development of Congolese competence and the
use of local fabrication yards and shore bases.
PRODUCTION
IN
9
INTERVIEW
What does the launch of a new bidding round
mean for Congo-Brazzaville?
We have redrawn the division of the blocks in
the country, including the coastal and interior
basin. During one of the country’s largest conferences held in Brazzaville in April 2014, the
ministry made information on the free blocks
available to potential investors.
We must renew our reserves. To do that, we
need to encourage exploration in open permits
is needed. These 10 new blocks will be oﬀered
for bid after the new hydrocarbons law is passed.
André Raphaël LOEMBA
Minister of Hydrocarbons
Many things
have changed in the
last two decades
in the global
petroleum industry,
so we must adapt
our legal and fiscal
framework.
Regional oil production, 2009-2013
(thousand barrels per day)
Congo
Gabon
400
Equatorial Guinea
350
300
250
IN FIGURES
200
150
Number of permits to be
offered in bidding round
100
10
50
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Source: BP Statistical Review 2014, MMIE
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
INTERVIEW
First oil from Moho Nord
2016
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INTERVIEW
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Future prominence
Jérôme KOKO
Director General
SNPC
12
INTERVIEW
The end goal is
not to merely
participate, but to
be the operator. For
this reason, we think
that the new law
should reinforce
SNPC’s role.
IN FIGURES
2014 first-semester average
production at Kundji site
700 barrels
of oil per day
Five-year goal from MengoKundji-Bindi project
15,000 barrels
of oil per day
THE OIL & GAS YEAR | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
Founded in 1998, the state-owned Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC)
is Congo-Brazzaville’s state integrated oil and gas company. Its primary operations
are in the production, refining and transportation of petroleum. Jérôme Koko, the
SNPC’s director general, speaks with TOGY about a possible pipeline from PointeNoire to Brazzaville and the role of SNPC in the future of the local oil industry.
How will revisions to Congo-Brazzaville’s hydrocarbons law change SNPC’s role?
SNPC needs to play a more central role among
all the players involved in Congo-Brazzaville’s
hydrocarbons industry. For example, there are
oil and gas production permits underway in
2014 in which SNPC has no role at all.
In the future, this should no longer be possible. It should be necessary for us to participate
either as an operator or as a participant.
The end goal is not to merely participate,
but to be the operator. For this reason, we
think that the new law should reinforce SNPC’s
role and enable it to be a true main actor in the
hydrocarbons industry. Of course, it should do
this without excluding our partners, which have
much more experience in the ﬁeld than our
company does and with which we hope to
continue to work in the coming years.
A pipeline from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville
has been a topic of discussion in the industry
since at least 2010. What is its status in 2014?
It is true that we have plans to build a pipeline
for ﬁnished products from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville, and from there up into the north of the
country. It is expected to stretch more than
500 kilometres. Yet, in 2014, we are transporting
ﬁnished products by road and railway.
I am not saying that such forms of transportation will be discontinued. Road travel is
ﬁne over short distances, but long distances
create risk. Railway transport, since we only
have a one-track railway, causes delivery delays.
A pipeline will allow us to transport ﬁnished
products with fewer obstacles.
This pipeline will change drastically, if not
revolutionise, the supply of our country’s interior,
and maybe even that of bordering countries,
such as the Central African Republic, Cameroon
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The latter of these is in 2014 one of the biggest
supply routes for ﬁnished products.
The project is being managed entirely by
SNPC. We are ﬁnancing studies that are already
underway and should be ﬁnalised by 2015.
Then we will have an estimated cost for the
project, which we will begin with right away.
For now we have not had any oﬀers or interest from other parties that would like to join
us. For us this project is both commercial and
political. That is why we are committed to pushing it forward ourselves, even if we had hoped
that there would be other partners.
What is the background of SNPC in CongoBrazzaville and how do you see the company
changing in the next five years?
SNPC was created to participate in the hydrocarbons industry and also in the development
of Congo-Brazzaville at large. Previously SNPC
held non-operating interests in acreage rather
than acting on the production side.
We participate in permits with other major
companies that work here in Congo-Brazzaville,
notably with Eni, Total and Chevron. However,
in 2010 SNPC became an operator on the onshore Mengo-Kundji-Bindi development.
In 2014, we are producing around 700
barrels of oil per day from the Kundji pilot
project site. This is done through our upstream
subsidiary Sonarep. We have drilled our own
wells at the site using our drilling subsidiary
the Société de Forages Pétroliers.
By 2019, we hope to reach 15,000 barrels
of oil per day on the three ﬁelds (Kundji, Mengo
and Bindi) after full ﬁeld development.
In addition to our activities in the upstream
sector, we are responsible for the sale of petroleum that comes back to the state through
royalties and shared production.
We also supply the country with ﬁnished
petroleum products from our Congolaise de
Raﬃnage reﬁnery. The facility processes two
categories of Congolese oil: Djeno Melange
and N’Kossa Blend, which are the main crudes
produced in Congo-Brazzaville.
What are some of your expectations for the
company during 2015? What specific targets
does SNPC hope to surpass by that time?
By August 2015, the company will have taken
a giant step forward, in that we will have
launched, together with our partners, the ﬁrst
drilling site in the Cuvette Basin.
SNPC will have finished studies on the
pipeline set to run from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville and may have already undertaken the
construction. The company also aims to establish
itself as a prominent oil and gas operator.
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
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THE YEAR’S AWARDS – CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
MAN OF THE YEAR
André Raphaël LOEMBA
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Hydrocarbons activity and investment in Congo-Brazzaville between
2013 and 2014 may have exceeded anything the country’s industry had
witnessed previously. The beginning of Total’s $10-billion Moho Nord
project, easily the largest offshore project in the history of the country,
confirms to the industry that Congo-Brazzaville is a safe destination for
large-scale investments, and that it is doing the right things to foster developments of the sort. The discovery of Eni’s immense Nene Marine
field, the advent of a key exploration bidding round and the restructuring
of the country’s hydrocarbons law, too, have fallen under the authority of
the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Minister André Raphaël Loemba.
In 2014, national oil company Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo has found itself in the
midst of its first onshore development project as an operator. As the largest upstream
development project onshore, the MKB Development has seen the company drill six wells in
the acreage. By 2016, it expects to be producing at least 5,000 barrels of oil per day from close
to 40 wells. This represents a more than seven-fold increase from production in 2014 of 700
barrels of oil per day. Investment in the surface equipment for the field will total €32 million.
OFFSHORE PROJECT OF THE YEAR
Valued at $10 billion, the Moho Nord project (Total, 53.5 percent, Chevron, 31.5 percent and
Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo, 15 percent) is having a major impact on the Congolese
economy and on local companies. While much of the activity is set to roll out in 2015 and 2016, the
project is already breaking records on many fronts. Moho Nord is the largest offshore investment in
the country, the first time Total has connected a tension-leg platform to a floating production unit
and, at the time of awarding, was the largest subsea project undertaken by France’s Technip.
DISCOVERY OF THE YEAR
Although originally announced in 2013, the 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 42.5 bcm (1.5 tcf) of
gas that constitute the Nene Marine discovery are still undergoing development drilling in
2014. Not only was the find one of the largest discoveries in the world in 2013, it was also a significant step in the pre-salt domain for Congo-Brazzaville. The shallow water discovery, in
some 27 metres of water, was made in a block with a 20-year exploration history, indicating
that new technology and a new perspective can breathe new life into the country’s acreage.
INVESTMENT OF THE YEAR
In 2010, discussions began between the governments of Congo-Brazzaville and Qatar on what
projects or opportunities may be ripe for investments in the Central African country. Considering
all the projects that were on the table domestically, Total E&P Congo proposed to Qatar
Petroleum International to increase its own capital, in order to facilitate new investments.
Qatar Petroleum International’s investment in Total E&P Congo, representing a 15-percent
share capital increase, is directed at existing facilities, alongside projects such as Moho Nord.
CONTRACT OF THE YEAR
In May 2014, shipping agency Necotrans was awarded operatorship of the river port in Brazzaville, signalling a milestone in the development of the capital city as a major transshipment
point for the region. The port project will require nearly $20 million in investment and is
planned for completion in 2015. Not only does this expansion assist Brazzaville in becoming a
primary hub in a transport corridor to the Central Africa region, but it will also support those
operating domestic exploration programmes in the country’s vast and undeveloped hinterland.
The Who’s Who of the Global Energy Industry
THE OIL & GAS YEAR | CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
THE YEAR’S AWARDS – CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE 2014
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ONSHORE PROJECT OF THE YEAR