Vallourec joins contractor line-up on Azule’s $5.1bn Angola development
Vallourec French tubing manufacturer Vallourec has been awarded a contract by Azule Energy for the Greater PAJ offshore development project in Angola. Under this contract, Vallourec will supply more than 26,000 tons of seamless carbon steel line pipes, representing approximately 210 km of pipeline, including advanced solutions with heavy thermal insulation coating. Deliveries associated with this order will begin in July 2027 and continue through December 2027. Vallourec will deliver line pipe solutions for production, service, water injection, and gas export lines, supporting the critical infrastructure required for hydrocarbon production and transportation in ultra-deepwater conditions. The project will involve one of the thickest thermal insulation systems ever implemented in the subsea industry, with a glass syntactic polypropylene thickness of up to 120 mm. This contract will support the development of one of the largest and most technically demanding deepwater projects currently underway offshore Angola. Located approximately 200 km offshore Angola in water depths ranging from 1,500 to 2,000 m, the $5.1bn Greater PAJ project encompasses the development of five offshore fields – Palas, Astraea, Juno, Dione and Urano. First oil is expected in less than three years, in the first half of 2029. Eni and BP, through Azule Energy, announced the final investment decision for the project last week. Sonangol E&P and Equinor are partners in the project. Azule has already awarded several contracts for work on the Greater PAJ development. Saipem won a $1bn deal for transportation and installation services, with a duration of around 40 months. TechnipFMC secured a contract to provide flexible flowlines and risers. The overall development concept consists of 17 wells connected to a new FPSO with a nameplate capacity of 95,000 barrels of oil per day and a gas export capacity of 70m cubic feet of gas per day, which will be delivered to the ALNG plant via a new gas export line tied to the existing Block 31 gas export network. The contract for the construction of the FPSO unit was awarded to the Chinese yard CIMC Raffles. Bojan Lepic Bojan is an English language professor turned journalist with years of experience covering the energy industry with a focus on the oil, gas, and LNG industries as well as reporting on the rise of the energy transition. Previously, he had written for Navingo media group titles including Offshore Energy Today and LNG World News. Before joining Splash, Bojan worked as an editor for Rigzone online magazine. Read Next June 30, 2026 Castor adds second modern kamsarmax in a week June 30, 2026 KHNP-led group secures preferred bidder role for Korean offshore wind project June 30, 2026 Bureau Veritas agrees sale of fuel testing division to Triton Partners June 30, 2026 Skyborn takes full control of German offshore wind farm June 30, 2026 Skov to step down as Hafnia chief executive