The FPSO built for the BP-operated Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has set sail for the project site off the coast of Mauritania and Senegal.
The FPSO left the Cosco shipyard in Qidong, China, on Friday, January 23, after completing sea trials following construction over the past three and a half years.
It will now travel 12,000 nautical miles via Singapore to its final destination, about 40 kilometers offshore at the maritime border of neighboring countries. According to Kosmos Energy, BP's partner in the project, the FPSO is expected to reach its final destination in the second quarter of the year.
The FPSO is a key component of GTA's major integrated development, which also includes the subsea development of gas fields and near-shore floating LNG facilities (FLNG). The first phase of the project is expected to produce approximately 2.3 million tons of LNG per year.
The FPSO will process the natural gas - removing condensate, water and other impurities - before exporting it by pipeline to the project's FLNG facilities 10 km offshore. With eight processing and production modules, the FPSO will process approximately 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
According to BP, the majority of the gas will be liquefied by the FLNG facilities and exported to international markets, while some will be used to meet growing demand in the two host countries. Condensate will be periodically transferred from the FPSO to tanker vessels for export to market.
The FPSO will be located in approximately 120 meters of water, will accommodate up to 140 employees during regular operations and will serve as the home of the project's production team.
The FPSO is 270 meters long, 54 meters wide and 31.5 meters deep. With a surface area equivalent to two soccer fields and as tall as a 10-story building, the FPSO is composed of more than 81,000 tons of steel, 37,000 meters of pipe spools and 1.52 million meters of cable.
Gordon Birrell, BP's executive vice president of production and operations, a déclaré : « Il s’agit d’une étape fantastique pour cet important projet, qui est un excellent exemple de la stratégie résiliante des hydrocarbures de BP en action. »
« L’équipe a livré cela dans un environnement difficile, y compris par le biais de COVID, en gardant toujours la sécurité des opérations au cœur de ce qu’elle fait. Avec le soutien continu de nos partenaires, la Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures en Mauritanie, Petrosen au Sénégal et Kosmos Energy, nous restons déterminés à aider les deux pays à développer leurs ressources de classe mondiale de manière durable.
BP has awarded Technip Energies a contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) of the GTA FPSO in 2019. This comes after Technip Energies has completed the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the project.
According to Technip Energies, the key function of the FPSO is to remove water, condensate and reduce impurities in the gas stream before exporting the processed gas to the FLNG facility in Mauritania and Senegal.
A noter qu’en septembre 2022, le FPSO a dû être ramené à quai après avoir dérivé à cause de l’impact du typhon Muifa.
Le navire avait dérivé d’environ 200 mètres du quai, après que ses amarres aient été compromises lors du typhon du 15 septembre 2022. Le partenaire de BP, Kosmos, a déclaré le 27 septembre 2022 que « les inspections menées à ce jour n’ont identifié aucun dommage significatif. «
In a statement issued Monday, commenting on the departure of the FPSO from China, Andrew G. Inglis Kosmos Energy's president and chief executive officer, said, "The departure of the GTA FPSO from the shipyard in China is a key milestone for the project. By the end of 2022, the project was approximately 90 percent complete, and we look forward to an active 2023 where we expect to achieve a number of important milestones for the project and the company."