Total’s Egina FPSO to sail away to Nigeria
The Egina FPSO, being built by SHI for Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI) for the 200,000 barrels per day Nigeria’s Egina deepwater field, is set to sail away from South Korea to Lagos for integration in the Samsung Yard (SHI-MCI FZE) in Tarkwa Bay, the first Floating Production Storage Offshore (FPSO) module fabrication and integration facility in Africa. Frank Uzuegbunam writes that the planned local integration of the Egina FPSO will create thousands of opportunities, keying into the Nigerian Content initiative and providing jobs for thousands of Nigerians.
Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) of Korea is set to create thousands of opportunities for Nigerians with the planned local integration of the Egina Floating Production Storage Offshore (FPSO) vessel, which is set to sail away from SHI’s Goeje Shipyard in South Korea to Nigeria in this year.
The Egina FPSO, which is being built by SHI for Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI) for the 200,000 barrels per day Nigeria’s Egina deepwater field, will sail away from South Korea to Lagos for integration in the Samsung Yard (SHI-MCI FZE) in Tarkwa Bay, the first FPSO module fabrication and integration facility in Africa, which was completed in 2016.
SHI was awarded the contract for the Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Integration, and Commissioning of the 2.3 million barrels capacity FPSO for the Egina oil field, located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130, offshore Nigeria.
Nicolas Terraz, managing director and chief executive of Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, confirmed to journalists on the sidelines of the recent 2017 Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Society for Petroleum Engineers (SPE), that the Egina FPSO would sail away from Samsung Heavy Industries yard in South Korea by the fourth quarter of this year.
Represented by the company’s executive director in charge of corporate affairs and services, Abiodun Afolabi, the Total Group boss added that the FPSO will arrive in Nigeria after the fourth quarter where the six locally fabricated topside modules will be integrated on the FPSO at SHI-MCI Yard before final sail-away to Egina field, deep offshore Nigeria.
Meanwhile, after the local integration of the six FPSO’s modules and over 8,000 tons of structures, the FPSO will sail away to the Egina oil field, which will add 200,000 barrels per day to Nigeria’s current crude oil production when it comes on stream in 2018.
It is worthy of note that this is the first ever integration of the FPSO in Nigeria, and indeed, Africa, to be carried out in the Lagos Samsung Yard (SHI-MCI FZE), and will potentially create thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the country.
Apart from the FPSO integration facility, the Samsung Yard also has a fabrication workshop that is the first of its kind in Africa.
Investigation shows that while the existing fabrication yards in Nigeria can only fabricate simple structures and platforms, the Samsung Yard can fabricate complex FPSO modules.
The fabrication workshop was completed by SHI in June 2015, while the construction work of integration Quay wall was completed in October 2016.
Fabrication work has since commenced in the fabrication workshop, and the local fabrication of the Egina FPSO modules is over 95 percent completed.
Currently, the yard, which can handle 10,000 metric tons fabrication yearly, is currently being used to fabricate some of the modules of the Egina FPSO.
The state-of-the art fabrication and integration facility, which was constructed and developed under the technical, managerial and operational expertise of SHI while LADOL, logistic service company provided the ferry and electricity service.
So far, SHI has invested $300 million in the SHI-MCI yard, which consists of yard area, assembly shop, assembly yard, fully enclosed blasting and painting shop, warehouse, African first quay wall for FPSO integration, heavy lift with large capacity and sufficient water depth by dredging work.
Apart from the financial investment, SHI has also provided the managerial and technical skill sets, technology and expertise, which are being gradually transferred to Nigerians, thus boosting the local capacity and capability in the oil and gas industry.
In the course of the work, SHI also brought in world-class experts in construction of deep offshore facilities, who have transferred their skills and competences to thousands of Nigerians that understudied them.
A lot of Nigerian engineers were trained by SHI for one year in nine engineering disciplines – mechanical, process, structural, piping, electrical, quality assurance, project controls, interface and instrumentation, during the detailed engineering stage of the project
At the construction phase of the project, huge numbers of Nigerians were trained directly and indirectly in construction-related areas, while many have also acquired international certifications in several skill sets and competencies – coating inspection, non-destructive testing, project planning, welding engineering and inspection, lifting operations, cost control, welding, machining and lifting, among others.
Already, 1,200 direct jobs were created for Nigerians in the areas of project management, welding, fitting, logistics and other support services, therefore fitting into the employment generation of the present Nigerian government.
The Korean firm has effectively used local sub-contractors and suppliers, with the cooperation of Total and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).