Letter from Africa: West African deepwater developers face FPSO choice
Decision may prove critical to the viability of the next tranche of regional projects
Are the days of large-scale, greenfield upstream projects coming to an end? While it is true there is a greater focus on short-cycle developments, large, advantaged projects can still compete for capital. The world-class projects offshore Brazil and Guyana grab the headlines, but there could also be another wave of standalone developments in West Africa. Operators are likely to make FID on at least four floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) projects in the next 6-24 months. European IOCs are leading the charge, with TotalEnergies, Shell and Italy’s Eni all progressing plans to develop resources across Angola, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. Competitive fiscal terms and top-class rese

Also in this section
11 July 2025
Equinor and its partners at Norway’s largest oilfield have pulled the trigger on a fresh $1.3b investment that will maintain high output for longer
11 July 2025
Reassessment of the country’s export-facing gas policy coincides with worsening domestic market backdrop
10 July 2025
Without sanctions relief, there is little reason to believe the latest potential attempt at exports from the Russian liquefaction project will be more successful than the one last summer
9 July 2025
Efforts to restructure and boost investment appear to be working, but doubts remain about the plan to almost double crude production by 2030