Chinese offshore marine engineering company COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry has completed the construction of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel that will be used by oil and gas supermajor bp at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project situated within the maritime border between Senegal and Mauritania.
The FPSO vessel will produce, process, and remove heavier hydrocarbon components from the gas recovered through an ultra-deepwater subsea system and deliver it to a floating LNG facility at a nearshore hub on the Mauritanian and Senegalese border.
Jointly built by COSCO and services provider TechnipFMC, the N999 Tortue FPSO vessel boasts a length of 70m, a width of 54m, and a height of 31.5m. In addition, the vessel was designed with a service life of 30 years and with an oil storage capacity of 1.44 million barrels, while serving to accommodate 140 people.
“The FPSO is a key part of the GTA LNG project and will soon sail to Mauritania and Senegal to create a new energy hub in Africa,” stated Technip Energies in a social media post.
With construction having commenced in May 2019, which included the design, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the FPSO’s main hull, living quarters, as well as the construction of topside modules, the vessel’s sail away date was postponed due to the COVD-19 pandemic and is expected to depart China in the fourth quarter of this year.
Despite these delays, however, the GTA project is on track to achieve first gas in the third quarter of 2023, with first LNG expected by the end of 2023. The initial phase of the project expected to deliver approximately 2.5 million tons of natural gas per year.
Poised to play an important role towards the development of an international green energy market, the GTA gas field will supply LNG to Mauritania, Senegal, and other countries in the MSGBC region and abroad, thereby alleviating energy poverty while boosting socioeconomic development in West Africa.
