Eni lets $2.54-billion contract for Ghana FPSO

Eni SPA unit Eni Ghana Exploration & Production Ltd. has let a $2.54-billion contract to Malaysia’s Yinson Holdings Bhd. for the chartering, operation, and maintenance of a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to process oil and gas from the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) block in the Tano basin, 60 km offshore Ghana.

The contract is for a firm charter period of 15 years with 5 yearly extension options exercisable by Eni Ghana. Should Eni exercise all of the extensions, the estimated total aggregate value of the contract would reach $3.26 billion.

The FPSO will be based on the conversion of the Yinson Genesis, a recently acquired very large crude carrier. The FPSO will have an available storage capacity of 1.7 million bbl, an oil processing capacity of 58,000 b/d, a gas injection capacity of 150 MMscfd, and a maximum future gas-export capacity of 210 MMscfd. The FPSO will be spread-moored in an average 1,000 m of water with a total topsides weight of almost 15,000 tonnes.

“We have been working with Eni on the front-end engineering design competition for this project for over a year and are therefore confident that we will be able to deliver the FPSO in accordance with the schedule, achieving first oil by mid-2017,” said Eirik Barclay, Yinson’s chief executive, FPSO division.

Peak production from OCTP is expected to reach 80,000 boe/d in 2019. The project comprises oil and nonassociated gas fields and will access 1.45 tcf of gas and 500 million bbl of oil in place.

Yinson’s wholly owned subsidiary and joint venture company Yinson Production (West Africa) Pte. Ltd. is the FPSO chartering company and Yinson Production West Africa Ltd. is engaged in the operation and maintenance of the FPSO.

Eni and its partners on Jan. 27 signed an agreement with the Ghana’s president and minister of petroleum to proceed with the OCTP project.

“The sanction of this significant project comes after less than 2 years from the completion of a successful exploration campaign (OGJ Online, Sept. 20, 2012),” said Claudio Descalzi, Eni chief executive officer.

Eni Ghana operates OCTP with 47.22% interest. Partners are Vitol Group 37.77% and Ghana National Petroleum Corp. 15%.