UGANDA: McDermott, Sinopec Consortium Awarded $2B Tilenga Project EPCC Contract
A consortium of a subsidiary of McDermott International, Ltd and Sinopec International Petroleum Service Corporation today announced it has received a conditional Letter of Award for the future contract valued at approximately $2 billion from Total for the Tilenga project. Formal contract award remains subject to Tilenga Partners approval. The Tilenga project is located in the Lake Albert Basin, Republic of Uganda and is the centerpiece of oil projects projected to bring investments of over $10 billion to Uganda and Tanzania. Tilenga includes six oil fields and will feature 426 oil wells at full production.
The consortium will provide engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) services for the development of an onshore oil field that will generate up to 200,000 barrels per day (BPD). It will consist of 31 well pads connected to a central processing facility (CPF) via buried flowlines.
“This is a first step which allows launching the detailed engineering and procurement activities before the final approval by the Partners. This prestigious project demonstrates the continuity and strength of our business relationship with TotalEnergies and their partners CNOOC International of China and Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC),” said Tareq Kawash, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa. “This is a momentous and essential project for Uganda for the development of its national companies and citizens—and as we continue to grow our footprint in Africa, we are committed to expanding local content opportunities in the communities in which we operate.”
The project will stimulate economic growth in Uganda and create up to 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, bringing a significant number of meaningful training opportunities for the local labor force. McDermott is committed to implementing these projects in a manner that fully addresses the sensitive environmental context and the needs of all stakeholders in the area.
“This important step further strengthens years of successful collaboration with TotalEnergies on a wide portfolio of world-class projects in the Offshore, Petrochemicals and LNG segments—where TotalEnergies is a major stakeholder,” said Samik Mukherjee, McDermott’s Group Senior Vice President for Projects.
The project will be led from McDermott’s offices West of London, United Kingdom and Sinopec’s office in Yangzhou, China, before transitioning to Uganda for the construction activities. Work began in second quarter 2021 and first oil is expected in 2025.
About Tilenga Project
The Tilenga Project is operated by Total E&P Uganda (TEPU), and covers three (03) Production Licenses (PLs) from Contract Area (CA) -1 and three (03) PLs from LA-2. The PLs include; Jobi-Rii, Gunya, Ngiri, Kasamene-Wahrindi, Kigogole-Ngara and Nsoga. The project includes the following facilities:
i) Development of a Central Processing Facility (CPF) with capacity to process 190,000 barrels of oil and 700,000 barrels of total liquid per day.
ii) Drilling of over 426 wells (200 water injector wells, 196 oil producer wells, 2 polymer pilot wells and 28 reference wells) which are planned to be drilled on 31 well-pads.
iii) Over 160 kilometres of flow-lines which will transport crude oil and water from the wells to the CPF.
iv) 95 km 24 inch feeder pipeline which will transport the processed crude oil from the CPF in Buliisa to the export hub and Refinery in Kabaale in Hoima District.
v) Other supporting infrastructure include; Victoria Nile Crossing, Temporary and Permanent Operation Support Base camps and a Lake Water Abstraction Station.