The Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessel for the $16bn Egina deepwater oilfield project by Total Upstream Nigeria Limited has arrived in Nigeria from South Korea.
The Egina FPSO, described as the largest ever installed in Nigeria (330-metres long), started the journey to Nigeria on October 31, 2017.
The vessel berthed on Wednesday at the newly built 500-metre FPSO integration quayside at the SHI-MCI Yard, Ladol island, Lagos, where the integration of six locally fabricated modules will take place over the next few months.
According to the oil major, Egina is the deepest offshore development carried out so far in Nigeria, with water depths over 1,500 meters and will add 200,000 barrels per day to Nigeria’s oil production.
It said the Egina FPSO had been designed for 25 years of operations and would produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day (at plateau).
The company said the Egina operations would generate significant activities for local contractors in various sectors, and continue to provide avenues for the training and development of Nigerians in various domains.
The Managing Director, Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, Nicolas Terraz, who described Egina as the largest investment project currently ongoing in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, said it would be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018 with the initial budget of $16bn.
He said, “This is for me a collective success. Together with our partners, we are kind of making history. It is the first time we will have such a big vessel and such an activity of integration taking place in Nigeria. So, I am grateful to the partners and the authorities.
“I think Total has taken the unique position to invest significantly in Nigeria when times are difficult. Two years ago, the oil price was below $50 per barrel, and still we have continued to invest in deepwater in Nigeria.”
He said the oil major would continue to work with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its partners to grow its activities for the benefit of the country and the company.
The Egina field was discovered by TUPNI in 2003 within the Oil Mining Licence 130, some 200 kilometres south of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The field is being developed by TUPNI in partnership with the NNPC, CNOOC, SAPETRO and Petrobras.
The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman, said the magnitude of the project presented the NPA with the opportunity to once again showcase unrelenting effort at building capacity to meet the needs of customers across board.
She said the project furthered the Federal Government’s local content policy with multiplier effects evident in employment opportunities, capacity building, technological transfer, cost saving, reduction in capital flight as well as the attraction of oil and gas hub to Nigeria for the sub-region.
“As we shall be playing host to the Egina for the next few months, the NPA is determined to deploy all its resources to supporting the project unto completion. We wish her a safe stay in the Lagos harbor and in the onward journey to the Egina oil field offshore.
According to a statement, the integration of the six locally fabricated topside modules at the SHI-MCI Yard before its final sail-away to the Egina field is a game changer as far as the execution of deep offshore oil and gas projects in the country is concerned.
-Punch
