(Adds $6 billion investment figure in headline and paragraph 2, Saipem involvement in paragraph 3, CEO quote in paragraph 4, shareholdings in paragraph 6, context in paragraphs 7-8)
May 21 (Reuters) - French oil major TotalEnergies is pressing ahead with the development of the Kaminho oil project 100 kilometers off the coast of Angola after a final investment decision on the block, it said on Tuesday.
The $6 billion project involves developing two oil fields located in Block 20/11, Cameia and Golfino, according to a statement from Angola's national hydrocarbon agency ANPG. Italian engineering firm Saipem will convert a very large crude carrier into a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit, which will connect oil from the offshore fields to a subsea production network.
"This project... will become our seventh FPSO unit in the country and the first-ever development in the Kwanza basin," TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement. Production is expected to begin in 2028, with a plateau of 70,000 barrels of oil per day, the French company said in a statement. TotalEnergies operates Block 20/11 with a 40% interest. Malaysia's Petronas holds another 40%, and Angola's Sonangol 20% Angola, where TotalEnergies is the top operator, produces 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, making it Africa's second-largest crude exporter. Its fields however are declining by 15% each year. The country has mounted an aggressive campaign to attract investors, maintain oil production, bring on new reserves and increase natural gas production, as sector interest moves on to newer discoveries in Guyana, Namibia and Suriname. (Reporting by Olivier Sorgho and America Hernandez in Paris, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Editing by Tassilo Hummel and Jan Harvey)
