Africa, Asia FSOs continue their Al Shaheen adventure

Tanker operator International Seaways has informed that its two FSOs began their new charters in Qatar during the third quarter of 2017.

During its quarterly presentation on Thursday, the company confirmed that the floating storage and offloading units FSO Africa and FSO Asia had kicked off their five year deals with North Oil Company at Qatar’s Al Shaheen field.

To remind, North Oil Company took over the operation of Qatar’s largest offshore oil field in July 2017 from Maersk Oil. The company is jointly owned by Total and Qatar Petroleum.

The two FSO units, jointly owned by International Seaways and Euronav, have been serving at the Al Shaheen without interruption since 2010, and will continue to do so for five more years.

The new contracts with North Oil Company are expected to generate in excess of $360 million of EBITDA for the joint venture over their five-year terms.

Located in Qatari waters 80 kilometers North of Ras Laffan, the Al-Shaheen field began production in 1994. The existing development consists of 30 platforms and 300 wells, and production from the field represents about half of Qatar’s oil production.

According to Total, the first phase of the development plan of Al Shaheen, consisting of the drilling of 56 new wells, will start this summer with the mobilization of the first two rigs, with a third one to be added at the beginning of next year. This first phase will be followed by two others over the next 5 years to further develop the field.