From Australia (RW): Sunbird Energy of Australia expects to make a ?nal investment decision on its 76%-owned Ibhubesi gas project, offshore the west coast of South Africa, during the ?rst half of 2015.

The decision follows independent reports of reserves certi?cation, production pro?les and surface facilities engineering design. The company has also been provided with environmental pre-scoping and data on gas marketing opportunities.

Ibhubsei has an estimated 6bcm of proven reserves and over 15bcm of 2P reserves

Seven out of 11 wells drilled in the licence area, 400km off Cape Town, have con?rmed gas. Based on known reservoir properties, wells could produce in excess of 1.4mcm/d. Based on the lower reserves base and perceived production rates, the ?rst phase of this development could ?ow 2.3mcm/d over six years.

First TLP

Wood Group Kenny provided a reference case Phase 1 development scenario involving four to nine production wells tied back to a central tension-leg platform in 250m and sent to market via a 400km pipeline to Atlantis, 50km north of Cape Town. The Ankerlig Power Station at Atlantis is a primary market objective.

The cost of development could be between A$1.2-1.4bn.

Sunbird will now de?ne ?nal well designs, locations and drilling schedules along with studies into engineering designs for the gas processing facilities and pipeline size. This work will form the basis for FEED work leading to a ?nal investment decision during the ?rst half of 2015.

From the UK: This latest proposed development seems to auger an era of expanded offshore activity in South African waters.

The announcement comes just a fortnight after Sunbird’s partner PetroSA signed a technical cooperation permit with Sasol covering Block 34/4a which runs along the west coast of South Africa. PetroSA said this permit is ‘on trend’ with Ibhubsei.

Meanwhile its current Ikhwezi subsea tieback project (SEN, 30/4) is now unlikely to be in production until the back end of the year. Originally due onstream last month, the late arrival of the Ensco rig has delayed startup.

The development is based on five horizontal subsea wells drilled on the FO field linked to the FA platform.

A 37km 12in production line and the main field umbilical tie into the North manifold area which is the main gathering hub for all the wells which range up to several kilometres away.

Allseas laid the pipeline with platform modifications handled by Petrofac.