Top 5 FPSO Systems in Operation within Nigeria

Written by Oby Amaliri and Ikechukwu Onyegiri; Edited by Ikechukwu Onyegiri

Subsea field layout schematic: FPSO system

FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) system is a converted or custom-built ship-shaped floater, used to process oil and gas and for temporary storage of the oil prior to transshipment. The FPSO is a floating vessel used by the offshore industry for the processing of hydrocarbons as well as the storage of oil. A FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or transported through a pipeline

It is one of the best devised systems to have developed in the oil exploration industry for the marine areas. They will sometimes have production facilities onboard, and are normally used in areas where a pipeline to transport oil to shore isn’t available. Typically a shuttle tanker will moor alongside the FPSO and offload the stored oil periodically.

Innovative technologies, coupled with developments of existing ones, have played a big part in maintaining this standing for so long. The system is foolproof, enables cost efficiency and thus becomes a very major asset when it comes to excavating for oil in the marine areas and provides vast benefits in the production of marginal fields.

Benefits

Technology advancements since the inception of FPSOs have seen the arrival of a host of features, from geostationary turrets to allow the vessel to turn and ride prevailing weather, to the wider inclusion of water or gas injection and gas-lifts.

Also, its simplicity as an offshore production facility, capable of accumulating and storing oil before periodically offloading it to tankers for transport to the mainland – gives it an obvious logistic and economic appeal. Not only does this directly permit the rationalization of shuttle tanker movements but, more fundamentally, it can also allow marginal oil fields, or those in deepwater areas at some physical distance from existing pipelines, to be developed.

The system enables cost efficiency and thus becomes a very major asset when it comes to excavating for oil in the marine areas: it does not require the laying of pipelines and can be moved to new locations.

Finally, FPSOs eliminate the need for costly and expensive underwater infrastructure, they are more environmentally friendly than rigs, and their abandonment costs are less than for fixed platforms.


Top 5 FPSO Systems operating within Nigeria

In Nigeria today, we have about sixteen FPSO systems operating in different fields. Some of these FPSO sytems are used to operate in the top five deep water fields. These five are selected as the deepest base on their recoverable reserves and storage capacity.


5. Usan FPSO (Year Active: 2011, Owner: Total, Operator: Total)

The Usan FPSO was fabricated at the Ulsan, South Korea yard by Samsung Heavy Industries with a capacity to process 160,000 barrels of oil and 5.1 million cubic metres of gas daily, that is 180,000 barrels of oil equivalent.With a storage capacity for 2 million barrels of oil, the facility is 320 metres long, 61 metres wide, 32 metres high and weighs 116,000 tonnes.

The Usan field is operated by TOTAL E&P Nigeria (Sold their 20% interest to Sinopec). Partners are Chevron Petroleum Nigeria (30%), ESSO E&P (30%), and Nexen Petroleum (20%) which are operated by the group as part of Joint Venture with NNPC. It’s located in water depth of about 750-850m with estimated recoverable reserve of about 540million barrels of oil.


4. Akpo FPSO (Year Active: 2009, Owner: Total, Operator: Total)

The Akpo FPSO was fabricated by a Technip/Hyundai Heavy Industries consortium with a storage capacity of 2 million barrels of condensate. The Akpo FPSO has the capacity to produce 185,000 boepd. Measuring 1,017 feet (310 meters) long and 200 feet (61 meters) wide, the vessel includes two processing trains to separate gas and water, 17 topside modules, and accommodations for a crew of 240. Moored in 4,347 feet (1,325 meters) of water by 12 anchor lines, the Akpo FPSO has a dry weight of 100,000 tons (90,718 tonnes) 

The Akpo field is operated by Total Upstream Nigeria Limited and joint venture partners as NNPC, Brasoil Oil Service Company Nigeria and South Atlantic Petroleum and CNOOC. It’s located in water depth ranging from 1200-4000m with estimated recoverable reserve of 620million barrels of oil


3. Bonga FPSO (Year Active: 2002, Owner: Shell, Operator: Shell)

The Bonga FPSO was contracted to Samsung Heavy Industries, who fabricated the 300,000-ton hull in South Korea. Meanwhile, AMEC built and integrated the 22,000-ton oil processing topside facilities. Once completed, the FPSO measured 984 feet (300 meters) long, 246 feet (75 meters) wide and was as tall as a 12-story building. The Bonga FPSO has the a storage capacity of about 2 MMBBLS of crude oil and an handle 225,000 bpd and 150 MMcf/d of gas production.

Bonga has the first, largest and most technologically advanced polyester moored deepwater buoy to be built in Nigeria. Bonga also saw the first implementation of a 1.4-mile (2.3-kilometer) large-size dynamic flexible pipe for oil transfer to a single point mooring-offloading buoy. The single point-mooring buoy that was installed at Nigerdock in Nigeria is the world's largest.

The Bonga field is operated by SNEPCO and joint venture partners are NNPC, Total (12.5%), ENI (12.5%), and Esso (20%). It’s located in water depth of about 1000m with estimated recoverable reserve of 600million barrels of oil


2. Agbami FPSO (Year Active: 2008, Owner: Chevron, Operator: Star Deepwater JV)

The FPSO was built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (contract cost $1.1 billion) with an overall storage capacity of 2.15 MMBBLS of crude oil. The vessel is designed to handle 250,000bpd, 450 MMcf/d of gas production and 450,000 barrels of injected water a day. It measures 320m x 59m with a dead weight of 337,859 tonnes. It is designed to operate for 20 years.

The Agbami oilfield project is Nigeria's largest deepwater development. The field is operated by CHEVRON. Partners are Famfa Oil, Petrobras, and Statoil which are operated by the group as part of Joint Venture with NNPC. It’s located in water depth of 1463m with recoverable reserve of 900million barrels of oil.

1. Erha FPSO (Year Active: 2006, Owner: Exxon Mobil, Operator: ESSO)

The spread-moored Erha FPSO (built by Huawei Heavy Industries) has a designed storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels of crude oil, and its designed oil processing capacity is 210,000 barrels per day (bpd). The FPSO's water injection capacity is 150,000bpd, and gas injection capacity is 340 million standard cubic feet per day (Mscfd). Dead weight of 375,600 tonnes. All processing equipment is above the main deck and the topside facilities consist of two trains of three-stage oil separation.

The FPSO is 285m long and 63m wide, and has accommodation facilities for 100 people. It is designed to operate for 25 years.

The Erha field is operated by ESSO Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited (56.25%) with NNPC as its joint venture partner and SNEPCO (43.75%). It’s located in water depth of about 1200m with estimated recoverable reserve of approximately 500million barrels of oil.

Below is a summary table for other existing FPSO systems operating in Nigeria.

NAME/Start up Year	OWNER	OPERATOR	FIELD OPERATOR	LOCATION FIELD	STORAGE CAPACITY	BPD Of Oil	MMSCF
Abo/2003	BW Offshore	BW Offshore	Nigerian Agip Exploration	Abo	950,000	45,000	-
Akpo/2009	Total	Total	Total	Akpo OPL 246,OML-130	2,000,000	185,000	15
Agbami/2008	Chevron	Star Deepwater JV	Chevron	Agbami  OPL 216,217	2,150,000	250,000	450
Armada Perkasa/2009	Bumi Armada	Bumi Armada	AMNI International	Okoro -Setu	400,000	35,000	-
Armada Perdana/2010	Bumi Armada	Bumi Armada	Allied Energy/Agip	Oyo	1,000,000	40,000	-
Berge Okoloba Toru LPG	BW Offshore	BW Offshore	Shell	Bonny River	472,000	35,000	-
Bonga/2002	Shell	Shell	Shell	Bonga	2,000,000	225,000	150
Erha/2006	Exxon Mobil	ESSO	Exxon Mobil	Niger Delta OPL 209	2,200,000	960,000	-
Falcon/2002	SBM Offshore	Exxon Mobil	Exxon Mobil	Yoho Field(	100	100,000	100
Knock Adoon/2006	Fred Olsen Production	Fred Olsen Production	Addax Petroleum	Antan	1,700,000	60,000	7
Mystras/2001	NPDC	NPDC	Century Group	Okono & Okpono Fields	1,035,000	50,000	65
Sea Eagle(EA FPSO)/2001	Shell	Shell	Shell	EA (OML 79)	920,000	120,000	100
Sendje Berge(2005-2013)	BW Offshore	BW Offshore	Addax Petroleum	Okwori, Okwori South	2,000,000	50,000	55
Trinity Spirit/2001	Conoco Philips	Alliance Marine Serv	Shebah E&P	Ukpokiti	1,700,000	22,000	-
Usan/Ukot	Total	Total	Total	OPL 222-Usan	2,000,000	180,000	-

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