Total's Largest FPSO Commences Operation
Total has started up production from the Egina field in Nigeria using one of the world's largest FPSOs.
Weighing close to 220,000 tons and measuring 330 meters (1,083 feet) long by 60 meters (197 feet) wide, the Egina FPSO is connected to 44 subsea wells at Nigeria's deepest offshore energy project to date. The FPSO is Total's largest to date and also the largest installed in Nigeria.
The vessel was built by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), but the project has also involved a record level of local contractors. Six of the 18 modules on the FPSO were built and integrated locally, and 77 percent of hours spent on the project were worked locally. The fabrication and integration of the FPSO in Nigeria was the first time such a complex project of this type was executed in Africa. It was undertaken by SHI-MCI FZE, a yard built by SHI that is designed to make Nigeria the hub for FPSO integration in Africa. There are currently no other FPSO integration yards elsewhere on the continent.
The Egina field project is based on a subsea production system connected to the FPSO which is designed to hold 2.3 million barrels of oil. The field is located in around 1,600 meters of water depths, 150 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria, and operations commenced on December 29. At plateau, the Egina field will produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day, which represents about 10 percent of Nigeria’s production.
Startup of the Egina field has been achieved close to 10 percent below the initial budget, which represents more than $1 billion of CAPEX savings, due in particular to excellent drilling performance where the drilling time per well has been reduced by 30 percent.
Initially discovered in 2003, the Egina field is the second development in production on the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 following the Akpo field, which started-up in 2009. The Preowei field is another large discovery made on this block for which an investment decision is scheduled for 2019.
Total Upstream Nigeria Limited operates OML 130 with a 24 percent interest, in partnership with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), South Atlantic Petroleum - SAPETRO Ltd. (15 percent), CNOOC E&P Nigeria Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited (45 percent) and Petrobras Oil and Gas BV (16 percent).
In addition to OML 130 where the Akpo, Egina and Preowei fields were discovered, Total operates other offshore assets such as OML 99 (40 percent) where the Ikike discovery is located, OML 100 (40 percent) and OML 102 (40 percent) where the Ofon 2 project was completed in 2016.
The successful sail away of the Egina FPSO to its final location offshore courtesy of logistics partner Fortune Global.