Two FPSOs get more work in Nigeria and Ivory Coast

Norway’s FPSO operator BW Offshore has secured short-term contract extensions for two floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, working on fields located offshore Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, respectively.

BW Offshore disclosed on Friday, 31 March 2023, that it had signed a short-term extension for the FPSO Abo with Nigerian Agip Exploration, a subsidiary of Eni, enabling the FPSO to carry out operations on the Abo field until 14 April 2023. This FPSO has been working on the Abo field with Eni’s Agip since the start of production in 2003, while the previous extension was secured in January 2023.

Covering an area of 1,983 km² (490,010 acres), 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 to 1,100 metres. This field contains light sweet crude oil, typically 39° to 41° API, and natural gas. With three fields – Abo, Abo North and Okodo – the license encompasses eight producing wells, two water injectors and two gas injectors. These wells are tied back to the FPSO Abo.

Agip is the operator with 85 per cent working interest, while Oando Energy Resources holds the remaining 15 per cent. The FPSO Abo comes with a storage capacity of 930,000 barrels of oil, an oil treatment capacity of up to 45,000 bopd, a water injection capacity of 30,000 bopd, and a gas compression capacity of 48,4 mmscfd.

In a separate statement, BW Offshore announced the inking of a short-term extension for the lease and operation of the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien in order to discuss a potential purchase of the FPSO. As a result, the firm period has been extended until 28 April 2023. Working on the CNR International-operated Espoir field – located offshore the Ivory Coast – the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien is connected to the towers by flowlines and has an oil production capacity of 45,000 bbl/d.

The production at the Espoir field started in 2002 while the oil produced from the Espoir East and West reservoir is processed, stored, and offloaded from the FPSO located between the two wellhead towers. Originally, the fixed contract period with CNR International was set to expire in 2022, however, the deal also contains extension options until 2036. The previous extension was signed in May 2022.

BW Offshore recently completed the sale of another FPSO and is focused on expanding the niche oil and gas segment by redeploying existing FPSOs and divesting non-core assets, as older units present an unbalanced risk/reward.

To this end, the firm is engaged in divestment dialogues for FPSOs: BW Athena, Abo, Espoir Ivoirien and Sendje Berge to close these deals in 1H 2023. In addition, the firm expects the recycling of the FPSO Petróleo Nautipa late in 2023 and the conclusion of the sale of the FPSO Polvo in 2Q 2023.