Chevron has fired up oil production from the Moho Bilondo Phase 1b (SEN, 32/11) deepwater development offshore the republic of Congo.

The project includes 11 wells tied back to an existing floating production unit (FPU) and is expected to produce 40,000 bbl/d of oil.

Located about 75 km off the coast of Pointe-Noire in water depths ranging from 750 m to 1,200 m, Moho Bilondo Phase 1b is part of the Moho Nord joint-development project, the largest-ever oil and gas project undertaken in Congo.

The redevelopment allows the existing Alima FPU to produce from the Miocene reserves discovered in the central part of the zone covered by the Moho Bilondo licence. It has involved expanding the subsea production network and debottlenecking the Alima to produce and process the additional oil from the new reservoirs.

Mobim Nord has provided a 5-km extension to the current Alima production loop and added 2.6 km to the current water-injection line. The new subsea lines are being fed by three production wells and two water-injection wells.

Alpha-Beta—the new hybrid loop connected to the Alima FPU and fed by four production wells and two water-injection wells—combines a production line and a service line (5.4 km) connected to the FPU by two flexible risers.

For the project OneSubsea supplied a multiphase pump station with two 3.5-MW high-boost pumps, a power and control module, a power and control umbilical, and PhaseWatcher Subsea Multiphase Flow Meters with Vx technology for pump control.

The Phase 1b development targeted reserves in the southern portion of the Moho Bilondo permit area.

The Moho Nord subsea development, which will be the second phase of the Moho Nord joint-development project, is in the northern part of the area.

The Moho Nord development project involves a tension-leg platform (TLP), a FPU with a processing capacity of 100,000 bbl/d and an 80-km pipeline to the onshore Djeno Terminal.

The FPU will develop the Miocene reservoirs, assisted by a subsea production system with horizontal, extended-reach wells. Production from the Albian carbonate reservoirs—which require frequent interventions to maintain well productivity—led to the decision to use a TLP to support the christmas trees for the long, vertical wells.

Multiphase production from the TLP will be processed aboard the FPU, which will be linked to the Djeno oil terminal via an oil export pipeline.

Chevron has a 31.5% working interest in the Moho Bilondo permit area, along with Total (53.5%) and the national oil company Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (15%).

Offshore