The floating production, storage and offloading vessel Léopold Sédar Senghor for Woodside Energy’s up to US$5.2 billion development of the Sangomar oil field has set sail from Singapore en route to Senegal.
Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill confirmed on Wednesday that the company is targeting first oil from Sangomar, Senegal’s first offshore oil development, in mid-2024. Upstream previously reported that the FPSO was expected to arrive on site in February and begin production around June next year.
Japanese floater specialist Modec will convert the former super-large crude carrier Astypalaia into a fit-for-purpose floater suitable for the Sangomar field, according to agreed specifications under the FPSO purchase agreement signed by Modec and Woodside. tasked, the project’s operators pointed out.
The Sangomar Phase 1 project includes a standalone FPSO with subsea infrastructure and is expected to have a production capacity of approximately 100,000 barrels per day. The floater, named after Senegal’s first president, has sailed 12,000 nautical miles from Singapore to its final destination about 100 kilometers off the coast of Dakar, Senegal.
“The successful and safe departure of the FPSO could not have been achieved without the strong relationship between Petrosen and its contractors Modec and Seatrium. Achieving this milestone is a great result and a credit to the contractor team,” Mr O’Neill said.
The floater had been moved to Seatrium in Singapore after work at shipyards in China stalled, mainly due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, after the FPSO arrived in the city state, issues were found regarding the quality of the materials and it did not meet Woodside’s expectations, O’Neill said earlier this year.
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“Repair work was needed on piping, valves, etc., and the individual scopes were small, but [there were] A reasonable number of them.And unfortunately the work [has] “Singapore shipyard progress has been delayed,” she told analysts on a first-half 2023 conference call.
Subsequently, piping alignment issues were detected during the testing phase of certain equipment on the FPSO, and Woodside chose to proceed with remedial work at Seatrium, extending the vessel’s scheduled delivery date from Singapore .
A Modec spokesperson previously told Upstream: “Modec always works closely with all stakeholders to ensure the safe delivery of high-quality FPSOs that meet our clients’ requirements.”