Oil rig docks at Coega for year-long refurbishment

SOUTH Africa's off-shore floating oil production facility docked at the Port of Ngqura yesterday morning for a system refurbishment.

PetroSA's floating production, storage and offloading facility, called Orca, will stay in the port for a year-long refurbishment and upgrade project to meet the requirements of a special period survey (SPS) certification.

An SPS licence is a requirement of the American Bureau of Shipping Standards (ABS) – one of the world's leading authorities on marine-related facilities – of which PetroSA is a member. An ABS-approved licence would ensure the Orca's class certification was up to date and enable it to continue production.

PetroSA has used it since 2008 to produce oil from the oil fields on the southern coast. To date, it has produced 46800181 barrels of crude.