Page 12 - GLNG Week 04 2023

GLNG AFRICA GLNG

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.”
The FPSO will be vessel that will be installed at the Greater Tortue/ For his part, Rahman Rahmanov, BP’s vice
installed later this year. 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 Meanwhile, Marco Villa, the COO of Tech-
and various impurities out of the production nip Energies, commented: “This is a significant
stream. milestone that demonstrates our project exe-
Following processing, the gas will be trans- cution excellence with the highest standards of
ferred by pipeline to a separate floating LNG safety and quality. We would like to thank BP and
(FLNG) unit that is being installed at a site 10 their partners for their trust and we are looking
km from shore. Most of it will be liquefied and forward to continuing the GTA FPSO journey
exported in the form of LNG, BP said, though with the next phases of the project taking place
some will be directed to Mauritania and Senegal in Senegal and Mauritania.”
for local consumption. The FPSO’s departure was also hailed by the
The statement did not say exactly how much African Energy Chamber (AEC), which drew
gas would be allotted to each market, but it did attention to the GTA project’s role in fostering
note that condensate production would be put the development of West Africa’s gas reserves.
into storage on the FPSO and periodically trans- “With gas representing the resource of the
ferred to shuttle tankers for export. future, and expected to usher in a new era of elec-
BP and Kosmos have said they expect to trification and industrialisation, lifting Africa
launch the first phase of development at GTA out of energy poverty while shaping the global
before the end of 2023. The project has experi- energy transition, the AEC backs Mauritania
enced some delays because of the coronavirus and Senegal’s gas development agenda, of which
(COVID-19) pandemic. the GTA project represents a key part,” the cham-
ber said in a statement.
Reactions “The AEC is confident that projects such as
Gordon Birrell, BP’s executive vice president of the GTA will drive lasting and positive economic
production and operations, praised his firm’s benefits across Africa, opening up new opportu-
partners, including the national oil companies nities for job creation and multi-sector revitalisa-
(NOCs) of Mauritania and Senegal. tion, while stabilising global markets and easing
“This is a fantastic milestone for this impor- supply constraints.”
tant project, which is a great example of BP’s The GTA block contains around 15 trillion
resilient hydrocarbon strategy in action. The cubic feet (425bn cubic metres) of gas. Kosmos
team has delivered this in a challenging environ- discovered gas at the block in 2015 and then
ment, including through COVID, always keep- teamed up with BP for the project in 2016. The
ing safe operations at the heart of what they do,” two companies made an FID on Phase 1 of the
he said. “With the continued support of our part- project in late 2018 and have said they want to
ners, Societé Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures produce 2.5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG in
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. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 27•January•2023