Offshore staff
LONDON – Lukoil’s entry into the Sangomar field development will boost its production in West Africa by up to 20,000 boe/d, according to GlobalData.
Upstream analyst Conor Ward, commenting on yesterday’s announcement that the company has agreed to buy Cairn Energy’s 40% stake in the surrounding offshore concession, said the company could be producing around 70,000 b/d from its projects in western Africa by the mid-2020s.
In recent years the company has acquired stakes in major projects such as the deepwater Pecan field offshore Ghana; the Bonga Southwest/Aparo field off Nigeria; the Marine XII license offshore Republic of Congo; and the Fortuna LNG project in Equatorial Guinea.
Despite reporting 1Q losses, Ward said, the Sangomar transaction suggests the company retains confidence in the E&P sector and its ambition to expand its West African footprint - despite continued uncertainty over some of the proposed developments.
“Many of the projects that Lukoil has acquired shares in have faced multiple delays such as Bonga Southwest/Aparo where the final investment decision (FID) was expected in 2020, but is now not expected until 2021 at the earliest.
“The participants of Pecan are still considering a new development concept and the same goes for the Fortuna development, while the Etinde field in Cameroon hangs in doubt.
“The acquisition of the Sangomar field will really bolster the company’s West African growth plans as it achieved FID in 2020 and the operator Woodside has remained adamant that first production will be seen in 2023 as originally planned.”
07/28/2020
