Eni prolongs BW Offshore FPSO’s assignment off Nigeria

Italian-headquartered oil and gas giant Eni has awarded another short-term contract extension to BW Offshore for one of its floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels, which is carrying out operations on a field located offshore Nigeria.

BW Offshore has inked a short-term extension for the FPSO Abo with Nigerian Agip Exploration, a subsidiary of Eni, enabling the FPSO to work on the Abo field until 31 August 2023. The previous contract extension expired on 14 August 2023. The FPSO owner is engaged in divestment dialogues for this FPSO, which were previously expected to close in 1H 2023.

The OML 125 license entails three fields – Abo, Abo North and Okodo – 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.

Located 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.

The Abo FPSO 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 putting the wheels into motion to expand the niche oil and gas segment by redeploying existing FPSOs and divesting non-core assets. The firm 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.