Italy’s energy giant Eni has held a naming ceremony for a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) and floating storage and offloading (FSO), which underwent conversion works for a year. The finishing touches are now underway to prepare these vessels for their move to the Italian heavyweight’s oil and gas development, which is said to be the largest discovery in Cote d’Ivoire and the first net-zero upstream project, in terms of Scope 1 and 2 emissions, on the African continent.
The UK-based Altera Infrastructure secured 15-year contracts in October 2023 to redeploy the FPSO Voyageur Spirit and the Nordic Brasilia shuttle tanker – expected to be converted into an FSO – for work at Eni’s Baleine Phase 2 project located off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire. Afterward, refurbishment of both started at DryDocks World in Dubai, UAE. These vessels have entered their final stages of upgrading and conversion before their mobilization to Côte d’Ivoire.
As a result, Eni, Petroci, Drydocks World, and Altera Infrastructure held a naming ceremony in Dubai, which rebranded to Petrojarl Kong the FPSO that previously operated under the name Voyageur Spirit on the Huntington field in the North Sea until 2020. In line with this, the FSO, converted from the Altera shuttle tanker Nordic Brasilia, was renamed Yamoussoukro and will provide additional storage capacity and oil export facilities at the field.
The naming ceremony was attended by Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Petroleum, Mines and Energy; Fatoumata Sanogo, Petroci’s CEO; Guido Brusco, Eni’s Chief Operating Officer Natural Resources; and Janarthanan Lakshmi Kanthan, Senior Vice President, EPC & Commercial at Drydocks World; along with 200 other distinguished guests from partners in this project.
Arne H. Tørnkvist, Executive Vice President of Projects, commented: “This achievement is a testament to Altera’s capacity to develop and execute large and complex projects while maintaining focus on safety and quality. The FPSO and the FSO are being completed approximately 14 months after arriving at the yard – and the Altera FPSO and FSO Projects combined have so far involved more than 8 million manhours without lost time injuries and over 10 million on the entire project.”
According to Altera, which owns and will operate both vessels set for deployment on the Baleine field with a 15-year firm contract, this fast-track execution model has required parallel activities concerning engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC). The scope of undertaken work encompasses extensive demolition, repair and life extension, and conversion work for both vessels. DOF has been selected to install the FPSO and FSO once they arrive at their destination.
Source: offshore-energy.biz