Kaombo: An Innovative Ultra-Deep-Water Offshore Project in Angola

Launched in April 2014, Kaombo is an ultra-deep offshore exploration and production project on Block 32, offshore Angola. With reserves estimated at 658 million barrels of oil, located at a water depth of up to 1,950 meters and spread over 800 km², Kaombo represents one of the greatest technological feats ever achieved by TotalEnergies.

The Kaombo project is located on Block 32, an oil field in which TotalEnergies is operator and holds a 30% interest. It aims to develop oil deposits in 6 fields: Gengibre, Gindungo, Caril, Canela, Mostarda and Louro. These are linked by 300 km of subsea pipelines to two floating production and storage units (FPSO): Kaombo Norte and Kaombo Sul.

The development of this project faced some extraordinary challenges:

• The depth of the waters explored, which reaches 1,950 meters. At such depths, extreme temperature and pressure conditions require the deployment of reliable, cost-effective technologies.
• Reserves estimated at 658 million barrels, with a production capacity of 230,000 barrels per day (b/d).
• A complex production system based on the valorization of oil deposits spread over six fields covering an area of 800 km². It required the drilling of 59 wells, and the laying of Angola's largest subsea network for a single project. Today, 300 kilometers of subsea pipelines link the six groups of reservoirs to the FPSOs.

In line with its ambition to invest in low-cost projects, TotalEnergies has decided not to build new platforms but to use existing ones. Thus, for the first time, two oil tankers have been converted into FPSOs.

The first, Kaombo Norte, went into production in July 2018 and is developing the Gengibre, Gindungo and Caril fields. The second, Kaombo Sul, started up eight months later and produces the Canela, Mostarda and Louro fields. Both units process and store production at a rate of over 115,000 barrels per day each. In 2023, Kaombo Sul reached a production record of 130,554 b/d.