Deepwater activity off West Africa will remain robust, and particularly strong in Angola, Ghana and Nigeria, delegates heard at the Subsea Expo event in Aberdeen, Scotland.

More than a dozen deepwater developments are expected to come onstream off West Africa in the next five years, with cumulative recoverable reserves of more than 6 Bbbl of oil, according to an analyst from Petrologica.

Fawaz Martini said that the fields include, in 2015: Lianzi (Chevron, 46,000 b/d) in the Republic of Congo, Jubilee Phase 2 (Tullow, 40,000 b/d) in Ghana, Kizomba Satellites Phase 2 (ExxonMobil, 125,000 b/d) in Angola. In 2016 the list is as follows: TEN (Tullow, 80,000 b/d) in Ghana, Moho Nord Marine (Total, 140,000 b/d) in the Republic of Congo, East Hub (Eni, 80,000 b/d) in Angola, and Egina (Total, 200,000 b/d) in Nigeria.

Kaombo (Total, 200,000 b/d) in Angola, Etan (Eni, 85,000 b/d) in Nigeria, and OCTP (Eni, 80,000 b/d) in Ghana are due onstream in 2017. Chissonga (Maersk, 100,000 b/d) in Angola is due for startup in 2018, Zabazaba (Eni, 40,000 b/d) in Nigeria in 2019, and Bonga SW/Aparo (Shell, 225,000 b/d) in Nigeria in 2020.

  • Infield Systems analyst Kieran O’Brien in a separate presentation also told delegates that, unsurprisingly, offshore activity will remain “moderate” in 2015 and 2016.

In the Gulf of Mexico, peak shallow water activity is expected around 2016, while Final Investment Decisions on deepwater developments will be further delayed. Deepwater activity is expected to recover from 2017-2020.

Global subsea tree orders are expected to fall to a total of 2,227 for the period from 2015-2019, down from Infield’s earlier forecast total of 3,142. Spending on subsea trees is likely to pick up in 2018, however, with high levels of ultra-deepwater tree orders expected.

Offshore