BW Offshore FPSO staying longer off Nigeria

Italian-headquartered oil and gas giant Eni has agreed on another short-term contract extension with BW Offshore for a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is working on a field offshore Nigeria.

According to BW Offshore, it has 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 September 2023. The previous contract extension expired on 31 August 2023. The FPSO owner has marked this vessel for sale. The ongoing talks about this divestment were previously expected to close in 1H 2023.

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, the Abo field covers an area of 1,983 km² (490,010 acres). It 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. This FPSO has been working on the Abo field with Eni’s Agip since the start of production in 2003.

BW Offshore is working on expanding the niche oil and gas segment by redeploying existing FPSOs and divesting non-core assets. The company has already sold multiple FPSOs, including Sendje Berge, Espoir Ivoirien, BW Athena, BW Opportunity, Cidade de São Vicente, and BW Joko Tole. In addition, the FPSO operator expects the recycling of the FPSO Petróleo Nautipa late in 2023.

The company is also continuing to make progress on the construction of an FPSO, which is destined to work on a gas field offshore Australia. Aside from this, BW Offshore recently signed a new $200 million three-and-a-half-year facility, refinancing its existing senior secured credit facility for another FPSO, which is carrying out activities in the UK sector of the North Sea.