With ‘multi-million’ deal in the bag, Petrofac wins more work on BP’s giant gas project

UK-headquartered energy giant BP has hired Petrofac on a long-term contract for work at its Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) natural gas project off the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal.

Thanks to a new three-year operations services contract for the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, Petrofac has expanded its role with BP in West Africa. While the company did not reveal the exact value of the new contract, it did disclose that this is a “multi-million-dollar” deal.

Nick Shorten, Chief Operating Officer for Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business, commented: “Having supplied operation services for the floating production storage and offloading vessel and liquefied natural gas hub since 2022, and developed operational procedures in 2021, this additional scope demonstrates BP’s confidence in Petrofac and supports our selective geographic expansion strategy.”

According to Petrofac, the master services agreement covers a wide scope of services, which include – but are not limited to – onshore and offshore management and supervision, provision of personnel, and equipment maintenance. The project is located around 40 kilometers offshore on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal.

Rebecca King, BP’s VP Production, Mauritania and Senegal, remarked: “Petrofac already supplies the GTA project with deck crew services. This award to supply mechanical handling services across our nearshore and deepwater facilities can only strengthen our relationship.”

The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project development envisions the production of gas from an ultra-deepwater subsea system and mid-water floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, which will process the gas, removing heavier hydrocarbon components. The gas will then be transferred to an FLNG facility.

The Tortue FPSO embarked on its journey to the GTA project on January 20, 2023, from Qidong, China, upon completion of a series of sea trials following construction at Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry over three and half years. The GTA development’s first phase is set to produce around 2.3 million tonnes of LNG per year.

Furthermore, BP previously explained that the majority of the gas would be liquefied by the FLNG facilities, enabling export to international markets, while some would be allocated to help meet growing demand in the two host countries. Allseas’ vessels are executing the subsea pipelay scope.

Golar LNG’s FLNG Gimi, which will work on the GTA project, departed Singapore’s Seatrium shipyard on November 19, 2023. The vessel was converted from a 1976-built Moss LNG carrier to a floating LNG production unit. This unit is designed to provide circa 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum on average, with the total gas resources in the field estimated to be around 15 trillion cubic feet.

The launch of the GTA project is slated for 1Q 2024. BP sees this gas development as “the biggest project” in its portfolio, which has “enough gas to support production for at least 20 years.”