13 December 2015 – Total announced Friday that it has brought the Moho Phase 1b project, which is located 46 miles off the coast of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of the Congo, on-stream. Part of the Moho Bilondo license operated by Total E&P Congo with a 53.5 percent participating interest, Moho Phase 1b has a production capacity of 40,000 barrels oil equivalent per day.
The other partners in the project are Chevron Overseas, Congo, Limited, with a 31.5 percent interest, and the Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo, with a 15 percent interest. Total President Exploration & Production, Arnaud Breuillac, commented in a company statement:
“Moho Phase 1b is our ninth start-up since the beginning of the year and will contribute to our strong production growth in the years to come. The start-up of this project, in line with the original schedule, constitutes a further success for Total’s growth strategy in deep offshore, particularly in West Africa.
It follows the start-up of Dalia Phase 1A on Angola’s Block 17 in July this year and more recently, the Lianzi field which straddles the deep offshore of Congo and Angola.”
Moho Phase 1b, located in water depths ranging from 2,460 to 3,937 feet, involves the drilling of 11 new subsea wells and the installation of two subsea multiphase pumps.
It is tied back to the existing Floating Production Unit (FPU) of the Moho Bilondo field, which has been producing since 2008. The nearby Moho Nord development, launched concurrently with Moho Phase 1b in 2013, is ongoing and will add a further 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of capacity.
Present in the Republic of the Congo for almost 50 years, Total is the country’s leading oil producer. Total E&P Congo operates 10 of the 23 producing fields, accounting for nearly 50 percent of national output.
The Group’s equity production averaged 95,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2014. Total E&P Congo is owned by Total (85 percent) and a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum (15 percent).
*Rigzone
