Nigerian Agip Exploration, a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni has extended its deal with Norwegian floater specialist BW Offshore for floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) Abo, operating offshore Nigeria.
The agreement, which follows last year’s extension through to the end of 2021, with options available until the second quarter of 2023, will see the utilisation of the 1976-built FPSO extended until the fourth quarter of 2022.
The FPSO has been operating on the Abo field offshore Nigeria since the beginning of production in 2003.
Previously owned by Prosafe, the Abo FPSO was converted in 2002 from 1976-built single-hull Suezmax tanker Grey Warrior into an FPSO by Singapore’s Keppel Shipyard.
With a storage capacity of 930,000 barrels of oil, the Abo FPSO has an oil treatment capacity of up to 45,000 bopd. Its water injection capacity is 30,000 bwpd, while it also has a gas compression capacity of 48.4 mmscfd.
The Abo field is located in the OML 125 license some 40 kilometres off the Nigerian coast on the western edge of the Niger Delta, at a water depth of 550 m to 1,100 m. It covers an area of 1,983 km² (490,010 acres) and contains light sweet crude oil (typically 39° to 41° API) and natural gas.
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The licence includes three fields – Abo, Abo North and Okodo – and has eight producing wells, two water injectors and two gas injectors. These wells are tied back to the Abo FPSO. Agip is the operator with 85 percent working interest, while Oando Energy Resources holds the remaining 15 per cent.
BW Offshore is represented in all major oil and gas regions worldwide with a fleet of 15 owned FPSOs. The company has more than 30 years of production track record, having executed 40 FPSO and FSO projects.
In November last year, the Oslo-listed company signed a one-year extension with Addax Petroleum Exploration for the FPSO Sendje Berge, situated on the Okwori field offshore Nigeria.
According to a Rystad Energy report, the market for FPSO units almost brushed off the pandemic’s effect in 2021 and is likely to continue apace in 2022, with 10 new awards expected.
The report noted that two lease contracts were awarded in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing the total for the year to 10 – up from just three in 2020 – a strong rebound for the FPSO market.
“With around 30 FPSO units under construction or queued up for construction, and another 10 expected to be awarded over the next 12 months, the market is set to build on its recent success. However, as witnessed in many other facets of the global economy in recent months, supply chain concerns linger and will test the market’s ability to take in new contracts without uncontrollable cost overruns and delays,” says Zhenying Wu, a senior analyst with Rystad Energy.
Eni has been present in Nigeria since 1962, with operated and non-operated exploration, development and production activities in the onshore and offshore areas of the Niger Delta. In 2018, Eni’s equity hydrocarbon production amounted to 100 000 boepd.
