The FPSO Kaombo Norte came on stream on July 27 offshore Angola. When both its FPSOs will be at plateau, the biggest deep offshore project in Angola will account for 10% of the country’s production. Kaombo reserves are spread over an 800-square-kilometer area. The development stands out for its subsea network size with more than 270 kilometers of pipeline on the seabed between 1500-2000m water depth, including subsea production wells more than 25km away from the production facility.

During the installation campaign of the Gas Export Pipeline, tied to existing subsea assets with no shutdown, some difficulties to complete properly precommissioning operations were faced. A hydrates plug was confirmed in the connecting equipment to subsea assets under operations, leading to temporary impossibility to perform the dewatering of freshly installed end-line equipment. Subsea activities were deeply prepared thanks to a transverse approach between stakeholders to reach a safe and efficient hydrate removal operation in very limited timeframe. A subsea skid was eventually deployed to perform sequences of depressurization and injection of hydrates inhibitor batches. This subsea operation, which represents an additional in-situ experience for hydrate mitigation, has been successfully carried out providing great achievement to deliver all subsea pipeline installation in due time.