Assala Energy has announced it will invest $24 million to modernise Gabon’s Gamba export infrastructure in the south of the country. The Gamba export channel is critical to the economy of Gabon as 30% of the country’s crude export passes through it.

The large-scale project includes the construction, installation and engineering works of a brand-new single point mooring buoy. The United-Kingdom based firm said the single point mooring buoy is to be delivered to Port Gentil by the end of October before it is towed on-site in Gamba.

The installation of new mooring chains and anchoring points on the seabed is also in progress, and the new infrastructure is expected to be operational at the end of 2020.

A full inspection carried out in 2019 revealed that the former buoy that was installed over a decade ago needed a complete overhaul. The engineering project requires a complex intervention, relying heavily on the technical know-how and expertise of Assala Energy’s Gabonese workforce, combined with outside support from external consultants.

The Managing Director of Assala Gabon, Daniel Marini said, “Despite the global economic crisis, the uncertainties linked to the price of oil and the current health crisis, we remain very confident in Gabon’s capacity to stay a strong petroleum player in Central Africa. This investment also testifies to the concrete progress of our program to modernize key infrastructure, in order to produce Gabonese oil in a clean and sustainable manner.”

In 2017, Assala Energy announced the takeover of Shell Gabon’s onshore oil and gas operations and related infrastructure in the country which included five operated fields (Rabi, Toucan/Robin, Gamba/Ivinga, Koula/Damier, and Bende/M’Bassou/Totou), participation interest in four non-operated fields (Atora, Avocette, Coucal, and Tsiengui West), as well as the associated infrastructure of the onshore pipeline system from Rabi to Gamba and the Gamba Southern export terminal.