N'Kossa

This is Congo's N'Kossa Oil and gas terminal. It was built in the second half of the nineties of the last century. The complex consists of a 722x148 foot barge linked with two wellhead platforms and two FSO tankers. No P this time, but Floating, Storage and Offloading Tankers. On the right you see the barge carrying the production facilities. This is not an average barge, it is a concrete barge. It isn't even an average concrete barge, it is made of RPC. RPC stands for Reactive Powder Concrete. This is a so-called 'Ultra High Performance' cement. Instead of steel reinforcements in the concrete, RPS uses steel microfibers for toughening. This results in a very high density making flexible, elastic, pre-stressed and very strong concrete possible. It was first used in France in 1990 and that is where this barge was built too. I think the best way to compare RPC with ordinary concrete is to compare an ordinary T-Shirt from cotton with a T-shirt made of Kevlar. An annoying detail on this picture is the widespread flaring of gas. Everywhere in the world flaring is reduced, but apparently not here in Congo.