Angolan project brings gains in oil production, use of local resources and worker safety

The successful startup of two more fields in ExxonMobil’s Kizomba C development off the West African coast has brought on vital additions of oil for a world whose energy needs are growing. The path to this accomplishment includes maximizing local content and a coordinated effort to improve worker safety among each of the project’s major contractors.

Ninety miles off the coast of Angola, Kizomba C is ExxonMobil’s largest subsea oil project. It comprises three fields: Mondo, which came on stream in January 2008, and Saxi and Batuque, which began production this summer. It’s designed to develop 600 million barrels of oil.

The development includes two floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and 36 subsea wells.

ExxonMobil, operator with a 40 percent interest, was awarded Block 15, where Kizomba C is located, in 1994. The first discovery occurred in 1998. Sonangol, the Angolan national oil company, is concessionaire, and other participants include BP Exploration (Angola) Limited 26.67 percent, ENI Angola Exploration B.V. 20 percent and Statoil Angola Block 15 A.S. 13.33 percent.

The twin FPSO vessels are the fourth and fifth production hubs on Block 15, where production reached a total of 700,000 barrels a day in August 2008.

Startup of the Saxi and Batuque fields in Angola’s prolific Block 15 follows other ExxonMobil projects that began producing in 2008, including Kizomba C Mondo (Angola), Volve (Norway), Starling (UK), ACG Phase 3 (Azerbaijan) and East Area Natural Gas Liquids II (Nigeria).

Maximizing local resources

In developing Kizomba C, ExxonMobil has spent nearly $1.5 billion on Angolan goods and services as part of the company’s national content program. These purchases include contracts for in-country services and training and development of Angolan personnel.

For example, four local companies were selected to provide in-country fabrication expertise for such components as manifolds, mooring systems and FPSO turret structures. These and other elements were transported from Angola to the Keppel Shipyard Limited facility in Singapore for assembly and integration into the FPSOs.

In addition to purchasing equipment and fabrication services from Angolan companies, ExxonMobil continued a longstanding practice of hiring and training Angolan engineers and other personnel –
a practice established by the company long before production began from Kizomba C.

A notable example was a new training initiative for the Kizomba C project that leveraged its contractors to provide training of Angolans in fabrication and operations-type assignments. During a two-year period, 75 employees from Angolan companies were given the opportunity to develop new skills. Many traveled to the Keppel Shipyard, where they received hands-on training in fabrication and project management skills. This included experiences in safety planning, welding, scheduling and contracting. 

Another 50 Angolans were trained to support and operate the FPSOs through courses provided in the United Kingdom and other European countries as well as South Africa.

In turn, they brought their new skills home to Angola and, by sharing them with colleagues, helped spread knowledge and technology in the indigenous work force.

“ExxonMobil is committed to developing national content and local companies wherever we operate in the world,” says Mike Flynn, vice president for deepwater projects, ExxonMobil Development Company. “Kizomba C is an excellent example, with its large scale and significant equipment and personnel needs. It demonstrates how ExxonMobil integrates our unique project management capabilities to develop Angolan businesses and suppliers and deliver exceptional value.”

Partnering for safety improvement

The story of Kizomba C goes beyond hardware and impressive statistics. It also involves the story of a concerted, integrated and vigorous effort to ensure the safety of all workers on the project, regardless of location.

 This approach leverages ExxonMobil’s widely recognized and highly focused approach to safety in all jobs and operations. An example of the success of this initiative is evidenced in the impact made at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore. Keppel, a subcontractor of SBM (the contractor for the FPSOs), was contacted early on to participate in this endeavor, beginning with a comprehensive evaluation to determine worker safety awareness and attitudes at the shipyard.

Keppel, with its own strong interest in worker safety, was eager to make a step-change improvement in its safety performance and readily accepted the offer to partner with ExxonMobil.

“This initiative went beyond traditional safety reminders, safety requirements and emphasis on safe practices, as important as those are,” says Ken Larson, Kizomba C project manager. “It focused on the underlying safety culture and on finding new opportunities from a leadership perspective to improve safety performance.”

The first step was to perform a “gap analysis” to assess the entire safety culture from senior management down to the people doing the work.

Next, Larson says, was a review of the overall safety management system and processes employed in the yard.

“We made a key discovery,” he says. “We found out that while management had a strong commitment to safety, it was not visible or completely understood at the worker level.”

The challenge was magnified since Keppel’s Singapore shipyard employs 16,000 workers from different countries and different cultures.

Part of the improvement effort involved a specially tailored safety training and coaching program for managers, supervisors and fore-persons representing contractors and major subcontractors.

Other highlights:

• All Keppel managers conducted regular site safety walkthroughs. They observed employees at work, provided feedback and recorded their findings. The data were used in feedback sessions with workers.
• More than 2,600 supervisors and forepersons were trained to identify safe and at-risk behavior by workers. Individuals demonstrating safe behaviors received positive feedback on the spot.
• A safety video was developed for use with employees working on the FPSOs. A key element of the video was to encourage workers to look beyond the conventional view of safety awareness. They were reminded that their families and loved ones have a stake in their well-being.
• The effort at Keppel will continue in a program called “Safety Excellence 2010,” which will recruit other companies to join the safety improvement program.

Thanks to the safety initiatives undertaken by Keppel and ExxonMobil, the safety record for Keppel’s construction and assembly work for Kizomba C reached record levels.

The lost-time incident rate during the course of the project was reduced to 0.24 incidents per million work hours at Keppel. That’s about 10 times better than industry averages.

“Numbers are important,” says Larson, “but they aren’t the whole story. This achievement means more people go home to their families at the end of every day with no injuries, in line with our goal of ‘Nobody Gets Hurt.’ In addition, it gives us valuable experience that we can leverage at other ExxonMobil projects around the world.” It also resulted in exemplary performance that was a key factor in the on-time, under-budget startup of the Mondo and Saxi-Batuque projects.