Namibia's Kudu Gas Project Static
Bermuda-registered floating production ships owner BW Offshore reported a profit in 3Q on November 20 but had little fresh to report on its project to develop gas for Namibia’s power market.
The company, which has offices in Singapore and Oslo, reported 3Q 2018 net profit of $15.6mn, compared to a 3Q 2017 profit of $3.9mn; it made a loss in 2Q 2018 of $7.5mn. It reported steady progress with projects including the third-party UK Catcher oil and gas field (now producing), and the Dussafu and Tortue oil fields offshore Gabon, in which a BW affiliate has equity.
However, regarding the Kudu gas project offshore Namibia, in which BW Offshore has equity and had planned to take a final investment decision by end-2017, no such FID has yet been reported. The company’s presentation said simply that "discussions with the Namibia government on Kudu development [would] continue" during the first half of 2019. BW Offshore has 56% equity in Kudu, while state entity, Namcor, retains 44%. Earlier this year the company scaled back the project, after Namibia indicated in early 2018 that it wanted to scale back the size of its planned onshore gas-fired plant from 880 MW to 440 MW.
Kudu’s main reservoir is estimated to contain 2C resources of 1.33 trillion ft3 (37.7bn m3), but several companies have considered and then rejected plans for its development since it was discovered in 1974 by Chevron. Development through floating production ship (FPSO), such as one of BW's, would be considerably cheaper than previous fixed platform options.