Côte d’Ivoire offshore blocks (IMAGE SOURCE: Vaalco Energy)

Vaalco Energy has secured an extra tranche of funding as it reorganises its portfolio in Côte d’Ivoire and prepares to drill in Gabon

The Africa-focused company has assets spread across West Africa, in Gabon, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, as well as in Canada.

This week it announced that it secured a new US$300mn revolving credit facility as it steps up work, notably in Côte d’Ivoire where it has just farmed into the CI-705 block offshore.

Vaalco is to become operator of the block with a 70% working interest and a 100% paying interest though a commercial carry arrangement and is partnering with Ivory Coast Exploration Oil & Gas SAS and state-owned PETROCI.

The CI-705 block is located in the prolific Tano basin, approximately 70 km to the west of the company’s other block, CI-40, where the Baobab and Kossipo oil fields are located.

It also sits 60 km west of Eni’s recent Calao discovery.

The move comes a month or after the cessation of production activities from the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Baobab Ivoirien MV10, operated by Canadian Natural Resources International, with a final lifting of crude oil in February.

The Baobab FPSO is to be wet towed to shipyards in Dubai for refurbishment upon departure from the area, scheduled for 24 March, Vaalco said in a statement.

George Maxwell, Vaalco’s chief executive officer, said the company is keen to expand its footprint offshore Côte d’Ivoire with access to CI-705 block, just a year after it first gained access to the market.

“We believe the CI-705 block is favourably located in a proven petroleum system, near existing infrastructure with access to a strong growing domestic market with attractive upside potential,” he said.

Under the terms of the farm-in, Vaalco will conduct seismic reprocessing and interpretation stages and potentially the drilling up to two exploration wells.

“Our initial assessment is that there are both oil and natural gas prospects on the block and we plan to conduct a detailed, integrated geological analysis to assess and mature our understanding of the block’s overall prospectivity.”

Vaalco invested US$3mn to acquire its interest in the new block, which covers approximately 2,300 sq km.

Located in water depths from zero to 2,500 metres, the block is lightly explored with just three wells drilled to date.

“We have demonstrated our ability to acquire, develop and enhance value with the accretive acquisitions we have executed in the past,” said Maxwell.

“We are also excited about the major projects that we have planned in 2025 and 2026, which are expected to deliver a step-change in organic growth across our portfolio.”

This year it intends to conduct drilling in Gabon, to enhance production and add reserves at the Etame and Ebouri fields.

The company’s total production averaged around 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2024.

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Agogo FPSO set for Angolan offshore work (IMAGE SOURCE: Cosco)

Angola’s deep offshore will be a world pioneer when it takes charge of the world’s first ship-based ‘marine factory’ for CO2 capture

The world’s first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit equipped with offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology was launched by Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry recently after being built in Shanghai.

Name Agogo FPSO, the vessel will now make its way to West Africa for work offshore Angola.

“This vessel stands as one of the most environmentally friendly FPSOs globally,” said Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry in a statement to mark the launch.

Transformed from a 320,000-dwt ultra-large crude oil carrier, this ‘offshore gigafactory’ underwent extensive modifications with in Shanghai, including the majority of module lifting operations and all integration tasks.

Upon delivery, Agogo FPSO is set to operate in Angola’s Block 15/06 West Hub area, situated around 180 km offshore at depths reaching 1,650 metres.

The block is operated by Azule Energy, the group that combines both bp and Eni in Angola.

Once operational, it will have a daily oil production capacity of 120,000 barrels and boast an oil storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels.

The Agogo will work for Azule Energy under a 15-year firm charter with the option to extend for another five years, and a total contract value of up to approximately US$5.3bn.

Cosco Shipping called it “the “world’s greenest FPSO” noting that during its time docked in Shanghai, the vessel demonstrated a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

It achieved this by capturing CO2 from the exhaust of onboard gas turbines, a process estimated to decrease carbon emission by approximately 27%.

“This milestone marks a pivotal step towards realising the zero-carbon FPSO vision,” the Chinese company noted.

Agogo also incorporates a suite of pioneering emission-reduction technologies including electrification, automation, digitalisation, combined cycle power systems, seawater turbine generators, steam generators, hydrocarbon cargo tank inerting systems, and an integrated closed flare system.

Collectively, Cosco Shipping said these advancements contribute to a “substantial reduction” in overall carbon emissions while enhancing operational efficiency.

With these innovations, Agogo is projected to cut CO2 emissions by roughly 230,000 tons annually, it added.

It said the project entailed over 15,000 tons of upper module lifting and more than 100,000 meters of cable installation, with all renovation tasks completed a month ahead of schedule, “setting a new global benchmark for the fastest turnaround in FPSO retrofitting.”

CCS remains in its early stages within both the maritime industry and FPSO sector.

“Agogo FPSO, as the world’s pioneering FPSO integrated with carbon capture technology, carries substantial industrial weight. It serves as a vital technical validation and demonstration for decarbonising offshore oil and gas production.” Cosco Shipping noted.

As well as showcasing the technology in Angola, the company said the FPSO underscores its own commitments to implementing projects centred around “digital intelligence” and “green, low-carbon” principles.

World’s first ship-based ‘marine factory for CO₂ capture

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Namibia's offshore is bringing new investment to the country. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Reflecting the surge in interest in Namibia’s burgeoning oil and gas sector, energy and marine consultancy ABL has announced that it is expanding in-country operations

The new entity will support the local oil and gas market, whilst also developing its offering to support Namibia’s energy transition.

“ABL has been supporting energy and marine projects in Namibia for over a decade,” said Anne Myers, ABL’s country manager for South Africa and Namibia. “Opening an official entity is the natural next step for us, and cements ABL’s commitment and local engagement to support the country in delivering on its energy objectives.”

Namibia is becoming a notable player in the African energy landscape, with a focus on traditional oil and gas development following a string of major offshore discoveries in recent years.

Last week, Galp Energia unveiled the latest discovery in the prolific Orange Basin with its Mopane-3X well.

Namibia also holds ambitious plans to harness its extensive solar and wind energy resources.

Its renewable energy potential is further evident in its promise as a green hydrogen hub for the African continent.

“ABL Namibia adds to our legacy presence in the South African market, based in Cape Town,” said Donald MacMillan, ABL’s regional managing director for Middle East, North and South Africa and India.

“It also represents the next step in our continued expansion as the go-to energy and marine consultant to support safety and sustainability in African energy and oceans. We are very excited to see what will come next from this exciting new venture.”

ABL Namibia will provide the company’s full technical service offering in energy and marine consulting, with a focus on marine technical due diligence, rig inspections and rig moving, marine inspections and surveys, marine warranty survey, and maritime services including ports consulting.

Via the support of its sister company, the renewable energy consultancy OWC, the new entity will also provide a springboard off which to expand the company’s expertise in energy transition and green energy technical advisory, engineering and consulting.

The Namibia operation also complements the group’s presence across the African continent, with offices in Egypt, Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, together with a consultancy presence in Algeria and Morocco.

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Bonga North boost for TechnipFMC. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Nigeria’s Bonga North deepwater project featured prominently as French engineering group TechnipFMC posted a robust set of Q4 2024 results

The company announced back in December that it had secured work on the deepwater project, worth between US$250mn and US$500mn, which is being put together by a local unit of Shell.

The contract — awarded by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited — will see TechnipFMC supply Subsea 2.0 production systems for the Bonga North development, with work covering the design and manufacture of subsea tree systems, manifolds, jumpers, controls and other services.

But the company also highlighted “higher activity” generally in Africa behind the success of its subsea division during the quarterly period.

It saw the company’s total order backlog reach US$14.4bn, an increase of 9% on a year earlier, with full-year orders worth US$10.4bn. The company said it anticipates a similar order book for 2025.

Doug Pferdehirt, chair and chief executive of TechnipFMC, called it “another year of tremendous success” for the group.

TechnipFMC also reported strong growth across the Middle East region.

“We have secured US$20.2bn of subsea orders over the past two years, and our strong market visibility gives us confidence we will exceed US$10bn of inbound in the current year — delivering on our guidance of US$30bn over the three-years ending 2025,” he said.

Pferdehirt also said that the outlook for further subsea work was positive, a potential nod to the wave of offshore projects in Africa currently in the planning, in areas ranging from Tanzania and Mozambique to Namibia.

“We are also experiencing increased visibility into the pipeline of longer-term opportunities, supported by a growing list of named projects that extends beyond the historical planning horizon, giving us even greater confidence that activity will remain robust through the end of the decade.”

Other frontier provinces have provided opportunity as well, with TechnipFMC landing US$1bn worth of work on the GranMorgu project, the first oil and gas development offshore Suriname.

Shell’s Bonga North development off Nigeria will be a subsea tie-back to the Bonga floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, located in block OML 118, in water depths over 1,000 metres.

It includes drilling, completing and starting up 16 wells (eight production wells and eight water injection wells), modifications to the existing FPSO and the installation of new subsea hardware tied back to the facility.

Bonga North currently has an estimated recoverable resource volume of more than 300 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and will reach a peak production of 110,000 barrels of oil a day, with first oil anticipated by the end of the decade.

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