The Civil Engineering Contractor June 2019 | Page 11

INFRA AFRICA
Sonic core recovery.
SA’s Geomechanics wins work on Uganda’s oil project
Geomechanics, part of the GeoGroup, has established a
branch in Uganda, where it is undertaking work on behalf of
French oil and gas major Total on the firm’s delayed Ugandan
Lake Albert oil project. Potential projects the company
is targeting include the R25.9-million geotechnical work
on the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Nile River
infrastructure as well as R27-million pipelines in Uganda
and Tanzania.
The project entailed geotechnical investigations for a
Central Processing Facility (CPF) in Uganda and a pipeline to
transport oil from the CPF 1 100kms to Tanga on the coast of
Tanzania. The CPF investigations entailed drilling and testing
in river beds, lake floors and on land. Six rotary core holes
and five CPTu tests were conducted in the Nile River and
additional 12 holes and 10 CPTu tests in Lake Albert.
Land based drilling included 49 rotary core holes and
135 CPTu tests. The pipeline investigations from the CPF in
Uganda to the coast of Tanzania required 21 rotary core holes,
41 CPTu tests and 94 trial pits in Uganda and 37 rotary core
holes, 70 CPTu tests and 165 test pits in Tanzania.
In total the project entailed almost 120 000 man hours
over 248 days with a maximum of 69 people at one stage.
The logistics required to successfully complete this project
www.civilsonline.co.za
were huge; there were more than 400 people housed in 19
different locations over a period of seven months. At any one
time there were three full camps in operation, one for the
advance team, one for the acquisition team and one set up
for the advance team to move into. In total, 110 people were
employed simply to keep the camps running smoothly. The
advance camp moved to a new location every 10 to 14 days,
the acquisition staff would then move into the camp vacated
by the advance staff and so on.
This is an advance component of Total’s project to develop
Uganda’s first oilfield with China’s CNOOC (China National
Offshore Oil Corporation). Production at the estimated
230 000 barrels per day (b/d) project was expected to start
in 2021, which was delayed from 2020. The project, which
was expected to have been cleared last year, was delayed
due to disagreements over field development strategy, tax
disputes and a lack of infrastructure such as a refinery
or export pipeline. It is a difficult project because it is
landlocked. It is a new country to oil, and consequently
all infrastructure has to be created from scratch. Project
engineering has been done and some tenders have been issued
with costs deemed acceptable.
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