Page 13 - AfrOil Week 04 2023

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

FPSO for GTA project departs

shipyard for Mauritania/Senegal

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

Week 04 26•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P13