Samsung Heavy honoured at NIPS for Egina FPSO technological feat

Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria (SHIN) has won the “Award for Technological Breakthrough” at the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS) in Abuja for innovations introduced during the construction of the Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) system built for the deepest offshore oil field in Nigeria.

SHIN was also nominated for awards in other categories including “Award for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility” and “Award for Project of the Year”. The NIPS took place from February 9 to 12 in Abuja.

The summit brought together key Nigerian political decision-makers, government officials and experts from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other relevant governmental bodies along with representatives from national and international companies operating in the oil and gas sector, multinational and multilateral organisations, academia and other relevant stakeholders.

The egina FPSO is the world’s largest built for the Egina oil field with a capacity to produce over 200,000 barrels per day. SHIN was awarded for technological innovations it brought to bear in the construction of the project.

During the construction of the Egina FPSO, 3D scanner technology and software were used, which simulated how the modules could be integrated in advance. These innovations improved quality, optimised planning and significantly reduced construction time as well as enhancing safety.

“Winning the technological breakthrough award is important not only to Samsung Heavy Industries Nigeria but for the nation of Nigeria. I thank you, and I accept this award with honour and pride,” Jaebeom Kim, CEO of SHI-MCI, said while collecting the award on behalf of SHIN and their partners.

“We seize every opportunity to deliver world-class marine services, fabrication & integration, ship maintenance and repair and manufacturing to the regional maritime industry,” Kim said.

At the event, Kim delivered a keynote speech titled ‘Shaping the future of Offshore and Marine Energy together’ at the Offshore and Marine energy session, where he drew attention to Africa’s growing demand for energy, as outlined by the recently published African Energy Outlook Report 2020.

He said that as the African continent continues to urbanise, the demand for energy will only increase.

In order to meet the surge in Africa’s energy demand and local political realities, domestic policy-makers are increasingly encouraging operators and contractors to expand their collaborations with local industry players for services and supplies and encourage technology and capacity transfers.

Kim also applauded President Muhammadu Buhari government’s initiatives to protect investments made by international companies such as Samsung, noting that Nigeria’s business environment is improving to allow more investments into the country.

He emphasised the need to further develop the capabilities of local companies and Nigeria’s human potential.

“As Nigeria’s promise of growth continues to attract increased investment in local infrastructure for the local oil and gas industry, it is also strategically important for the nation to match the skills of its population to the future needs of the Nigerian economy.

“As a supplier of maritime vessels, we see a tremendous opportunity for natural gas as a power generation resource, captured by mobile vessels in areas which lack some of the needed and expensive fixed infrastructure,” Kim said.

He also spoke on SHIN’s Egina FPSO project, which has been heralded as a milestone in the offshore Nigerian oil and gas industry, and the successful implementation of the purpose-built SHI-MCI fabrication and integration yard in Lagos.

“We are leveraging our experience of local content in constructing vessels for the oil and gas sector to complete work for other Nigerian oil fields such as Bonga South-west and the HI-Block project,” he said.