The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit has reached its location within the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG Phase 1 project, located offshore Mauritania and Senegal, according to BP.
This step marks a decisive turning point in the development of the GTA gas field. The arrival of the FPSO, a huge structure equivalent to two football fields and rising ten stories, has been confirmed by operator BP. The platform is now 40 kilometers from the coast, moored at a depth of 120 meters.
Having traveled more than 12,000 nautical miles from the COSCO shipyard in Qidong, China, this 81,000 tonne key infrastructure demonstrates, according to Dave Campbell, BP Senior VP for Mauritania and Senegal, “resilience, skills, teamwork and the considerable efforts of all partners.”
The FPSO is intended to process up to 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, extracted from subsea reservoirs at a record depth of 2,850 meters beneath Mauritania-Senegalese waters. After purification, the gas will be transferred by pipeline to a floating natural gas liquefaction unit (FLNG) located around ten kilometers offshore.
Phase 1 of the GTA project, valued at several billion dollars, targets annual production of 2.3 million tonnes of LNG for more than 20 years. This LNG will largely be exported, although a fraction will be allocated to the growing domestic demand of the two host countries.
Dave Campbell described the project as “major and innovative”, highlighting the openness to exploitation of the region’s offshore gas resources. The presidents of Mauritania and Senegal have also described GTA as a “national project of strategic importance” because of its significant economic implications.
The deployment of the FPSO required considerable technical and logistical efforts, with more than 330,000 inspections for this vessel, which incorporates 37,000 meters of pipes and 1.52 million meters of cables.
The establishment of this FPSO in the deep waters of the region marks a notable step forward in the development of this offshore gas resource, unique in the Gulf of Guinea. The emphasis is now placed on installation and testing before the launch of gas production, offering new energy prospects for Mauritania and Senegal.
