According to the Project Team, the Topsides sailed away from the SDE yard in Malaysia at 10.00hrs on its journey to Nigeria estimated to last 50 days. It is expected to arrive the Amenam field on Tuesday, October 10, 2006.

Before the sailaway, Friday, July 21, 2006 was another landmark in the life of the flourishing Amenam/Kpono field. That was when the Topsides deck was successfully loaded onto the barge 'Fjell', in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, at 1800hrs local time.

The deck which weighs approximately 8,000 tonnes with a 1,800 tonnes jacket will facilitate the installation of the permanent water injection system to AMD3 (up to 48,000m3/d), on which drilling has commenced. This will replace the interim system also installed earlier this year. These progressive activities will allow the company to reach a major milestone: gas export from Amenam/Kpono field to NLNG by year end.

In the course of building the AMP2 deck, a total of 12 million man-hours were expended.

Announcing this remarkable achievement, the AKOGEP management team said, "all teams remain mobilized to reach the future project targets" which include:

• Installation in Nigeria and the start of hook-up works by mid-October.
• Preparation for first gas export in mid-December to the NLNG plant at Bonny Island through a 60km long 24-inch diameter pipeline.
• Completion of water injection mid-January 2007.
• Final hand-over by April 2007.
• The platform will be capable of exporting up to 10.14mms3/day of gas.

This progress is aimed at advancing the gas utilization and commercialization objectives of Total's Upstream Companies in Nigeria.

The company has been at the forefront in the move to harness the nation's gas potentials. Total has built a 14MW Independent Power Plant in the OML58 which supplies electricity to its host communities. A concrete demonstration of this commitment is also apparent in the on-going construction of a 430MW Independent Power Plant in OML58 which would contribute power to the national grid when commissioned.

It will be recalled that in the first phase of the Amenam-Kpono project, the first oil was recorded on July 13, 2003. The facility currently produces at optimal capacity, 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The AMP2 Production Platform.