Page 11 - DMEA Week 04 2023

DMEA SUPPLY & PROCESSING DMEA

FPSO for GTA project departs

shipyard for Mauritania/Senegal

MAURITANIA BP (UK) revealed on January 23 that the float- countries to develop their world-class resources
ing production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) in a sustainable way.”
vessel that will be installed at the Greater Tortue/ For his part, Rahman Rahmanov, BP’s vice
Ahmeyim (GTA) block offshore Mauritania and president for projects in Mauritania and Senegal,
Senegal had set sail from a shipyard in Qidong, thanked China’s Cosco Shipping and France’s
China. Technip Energies for their contributions to the
In a statement, BP said that the FPSO had left project.
the dock on January 20, following the comple- “We are developing one of the world’s most
tion of sea trials. The unit will now sail 12,000 unique and innovative gas projects, and the
nautical miles (22,000 km) via Singapore to a FPSO forms one of the most important compo-
site about 40 km off the coast of West Africa, on nents,” he stated. “Achieving the successful sail
the maritime border between Mauritania and away of the GTA Phase 1 FPSO is a testimony to
Senegal. the tremendous partnership with our contrac-
BP and its partner Kosmos Energy (US) aim tors Cosco Shipping and Technip Energies. By
to install the FPSO in 120-metre-deep water in working together as one team, we have been able
time to launch natural gas and LNG production to create a culture of resilience and focus on safe
at GTA later this year. The vessel will process delivery. We have relentlessly focused on safety,
about 500mn cubic feet (14.2mn cubic metres) quality and delivery.”
per day, separating gas condensate, water and Meanwhile, Marco Villa, the COO of Tech-
various impurities out of the production stream. nip Energies, commented: “This is a significant
Following processing, the gas will be trans- milestone that demonstrates our project exe-
ferred by pipeline to a separate floating LNG cution excellence with the highest standards of
(FLNG) unit that is being installed at a site 10 safety and quality. We would like to thank BP and
km from shore. Most of it will be liquefied and their partners for their trust and we are looking
exported in the form of LNG, BP said, though forward to continuing the GTA FPSO journey
some will be directed to Mauritania and Senegal with the next phases of the project taking place
for local consumption. in Senegal and Mauritania.”
The statement did not say exactly how much The FPSO’s departure was also hailed by the
gas would be allotted to each market, but it African Energy Chamber (AEC), which drew
did note that condensate production would be attention to the GTA project’s role in fostering
put into storage on the FPSO and periodically the development of West Africa’s gas reserves.
transferred to shuttle tankers for export.BP and “With gas representing the resource of the
Kosmos have said they expect to launch the future, and expected to usher in a new era of elec-
first phase of development at GTA before the trification and industrialisation, lifting Africa
end of 2023. The project has experienced some out of energy poverty while shaping the global
delays because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) energy transition, the AEC backs Mauritania
pandemic. and Senegal’s gas development agenda, of which
the GTA project represents a key part,” the cham-
Reactions ber said in a statement.
Gordon Birrell, BP’s executive vice president of “The AEC is confident that projects such as
production and operations, praised his firm’s the GTA will drive lasting and positive economic
partners, including the national oil companies benefits across Africa, opening up new opportu-
(NOCs) of Mauritania and Senegal. nities for job creation and multi-sector revitalisa-
“This is a fantastic milestone for this impor- tion, while stabilising global markets and easing
tant project, which is a great example of BP’s supply constraints.”
resilient hydrocarbon strategy in action. The The GTA block contains around 15 trillion
team has delivered this in a challenging environ- cubic feet (425bn cubic metres) of gas. Kosmos
ment, including through COVID, always keep- discovered gas at the block in 2015 and then
ing safe operations at the heart of what they do,” teamed up with BP for the project in 2016. The
he said. two companies made an FID on Phase 1 of the
“With the continued support of our partners, project in late 2018 and have said they want to
Societé Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures in produce 2.5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG in
Mauritania, Petrosen in Senegal and Kosmos this stage, perhaps rising later to 5mn tpy. Output
Energy, we remain committed to helping both could then double in Phase 2.™

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