Ocean Installer and Oceaneering (NYSE:OII) have begun work a contract from TotalEnergies (PARIS: TTE), focused on Angola’s Block 17.
Ocean Installer said the contract was its second largest ever win. It will be to carry out transportation and installation on the Girassol life extension project.
Oceaneering executive Mark Peterson confirmed to Energy Voice that work had begun on the Girassol life extension.
“Work to date has included things like survey, engineering and project management planning with the major offshore services being planned for later 2024 and into 2025,” he said.
TotalEnergies is working to extend the life of the Girassol FPSO to 2031. It started up in 2001.
Oceaneering announced the contract win in August. The US-listed company said it would provide Angolan personnel for the work. This, it said, would begin in late 2023 and run into late 2025.
Ocean Installer said it would project manage, engineer and execute the work. The contract includes recovering old risers. It will then transport and install 10 replacement risers, as well as a gas lift umbilical. The company said it would fabricate and assemble equipment in country, with an “extensive topsides support and modification campaign”.
Oceaneering will oversee air and saturation diving services. This includes associated project management, engineering and procurement. Oceaneering will manage all in-country operations.
Ocean Installer CEO Kevin Murphy said the Girassol work was “our most significant project award from TotalEnergies to-date”.
Oceaneering senior vice president Chris Dyer, in a statement, said the contract built on the two companies’ previous work with TotalEnergies.
“We look forward to collaborating on this production critical project. The Girassol Life Extension programme is a major driver in the resurgence of activity offshore Angola, and we are excited to play a significant role in its success.”
Block 17 drive
Ocean Installer will provide its project management and engineering team from its Stavanger office. Oceaneering will work from Luanda, Aberdeen and Stavanger.
TechnipFMC won the contract to install flexible pipe and associated subsea structures on the Girassol project in August. The contract followed an earlier contract to TechnipFMC, covering the supply of flowlines and connectors.
Ocean Installer won an umbilical recovery and reinstallation contract from Total in November 2023. The contract was for the Pazflor FPSO, also on Block 17.
The company won the contract alongside Petro Services, which was to carry out project management work and in-country support.
Ocean Installer split off from Havfram in 2022 to focus on subsea installation. It is owned by Hitecvision.
Angola is keen to bolster its domestic production, in order to tackle natural field declines. The company declared it was leaving OPEC in December in a dispute over additional growth.
Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis (ANPG), the regulator, should finalise a proposal for its Incremental Production Project in 2024, it said. This aims to “establish mechanisms to reverse the decline in production, encouraging operators to implement projects considered not economically viable today through a legal and fiscal package”.
In 2022, ANPG said it had carried out a study on the main producing blocks to consider “potential opportunities for growth”.
