DAY 3 #90DaysOfOil #Kingfisher
In the serene environment of Kikuube district in western Uganda lies King Fisher Development Area (KFDA), a unique oil and gas field – partly onshore and partly offshore- exposing Uganda’s richness- waters, flora and fauna above and mineral wealth beneath.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) operates this field.
In the mix, Uganda has found a niche, to exploit the hidden oil and gas beneath with a view to maximize benefits for the people, national economy and ecosystem.
A host of activities geared at reaching mutual benefits are ongoing at the KFDA oil and gas field. Construction of resettlement houses for project affected persons that was undertaken by Excel Construction Co. Ug Limited are now complete and CNOOC has already handed over 56 such houses to the beneficiaries.
This seemingly little accomplishment coupled with ongoing projects at Tilenga oil and gas activities signifies complete take off of the upstream from exploration to development phases.
“Excel has also completed installation works of all the 41 conductor pipes to required depths of 36 meters,” Excel’s Director, Mr. Satvinder Saini said. “The quantum of work done in this short period of time shows nothing less than dedication to complete and hand over the project to client on schedule within budget. I am very glad to report that we are on track to date,” Mr. Satvinder added.
King Fisher field in EA3A is phase one of the CNOOC operated fields. Phase two shall be comprised of Mputa-Nzizi and Waraga fields, all within EA2-S. Up North, the Tilenga project which is made up of EA1 and EA 2-N, is operated by TotalEnergies. Both projects operate
King Fisher is a $2billion project with seven main contractors on site. China Offshore Oil Engineering Co. (COOEC-) and China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corporation (CPECC) are examples of main contractors. Overall, there are 7 main contractors. Alongside each, are a host of sub-contractors undertaking different project activities.
COOEC and CPECC have a contract to accomplish Engineering, Procurement and Construction in 3 projects. They are to construct a 40,000 bopd Central Processing Facility (CPF) , drill 31 wells , 11 injectors and 20 producers.
The King Fisher oil fields present more opportunities including construction of temporal camps that accommodates 1000 people, construction of water intake station, 4 well pads, infields flowlines connected to CPF. The CPF will also house oil separators, water treatment facilities, water injection unit, a gas processing unit along with power generation plant. The generated power shall be used to run on-site turbines. A feeder pipeline shall be used to ship crude to export pipelines and to the refinery. Construction of access roads and material yards are more opportunities.
“All the projects have immense opportunities to allow Uganda entities to participate through utilization of Ugandan local goods and services, Uganda companies participation and Ugandan citizens,” said CNOOC’s Vice President , Mr. Hu Weiji.
“ We are promoting and maximizing value addition and job creation through uses of local expertise an goods and services and skills,” Mr. Weiji added.
Uganda’s Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production Act) for the upstream, grants government a fixed 15% shares in all upstream and downstream activities.
ENDS