Construction of the Tortue floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) structure is “well underway” in China, according to the main contractor Technip Energies. The unit will serve BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG development offshore Mauritania and Senegal.
TechnipFMC, now split into two independent companies, won the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract worth up to $1 billion back in 2019.
The unit is under construction at COSCO Shipping’s Qidong yard in China. The most recent milestone includes launching the unit.
COSCO is responsible for engineering, procurement, and construction of the main hull and living quarters, as well as the construction of topside modules.
Technip Energies said in a update that “topside modules are now being erected and will be lifted onto the deck later this year.”
You can find the update which includes hull construction and key milestones over the last two years in the video below.
First gas in 2023
The Tortue/Ahmeyim gas field, located offshore on the border between Mauritania and Senegal, has about 15 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to BP.
The FPSO will process the gas, removing heavier hydrocarbon components, prior to delivering it to a floating LNG provider which will sit nearshore a hub.
To remind, the first phase of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG development is around 58 percent complete, project partner Kosmos Energy recently said.
Besides operator BP and Kosmos, the project includes national oil companies Petrosen and SMHPM.
In addition, Singapore’s Keppel shipyard is currently converting Golar’s Gimi FLNG for the project. BP and Golar agreed on a one-year delay for the unit last year due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The yard should deliver the FLNG in 2023 as the partners expect first gas from the project in the first half of the same year.
Once deployed offshore Mauritania and Senegal, it would provide about 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum on average.
