Australian operator Woodside Energy has completed construction of the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facility for its Sangomar development offshore Senegal.
The Leopold Sédar Senghor FPSO is now underway from China to Keppel Offshore & Marine’s Tuas yard in Singapore for topsides integration and performance of precommissioning and commissioning activities.
The FPSO, named after Senegal’s first president, is a converted very large crude carrier and will have a capacity to produce 100,000 BOPD, according to Woodside.
Woodside awarded the contract for supply of the FPSO to MODEC Inc. in 2020. Hull and marine works, external turret and topsides module installation, and conversion work on the vessel were completed by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Dalian).
The topsides modules were fabricated by both COSCO and by BOMESC Offshore Engineering Company in Tianjin, and the external turret mooring system was fabricated by Penglai Jutal Offshore Engineering Heavy Industries (PJOE).
Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill acknowledged the achievements of MODEC, COSCO, BOMESC, and PJOE in completing the fabrication and conversion works.
“The Chinese yards achieved excellent safety performance throughout this phase of construction, logging more than 16 million hours of complex construction work without a lost-time injury event,” she said in a release. “The construction teams also successfully navigated the challenges posed by pandemic-related travel and logistical restrictions throughout 2021 and 2022, ensuring the FPSO remained on schedule for startup at the Sangomar field in late 2023.”
The Sangomar project is about 70% complete and will be Senegal’s first offshore oil development, according to Woodside. The Senegalese government approved the exploitation plan for the Sangomar field development in 2020.
In addition to the standalone FPSO, the plan includes 23 subsea wells and supporting subsea infrastructure. It will allow for the integration of subsequent phases of the Sangomar development, which includes gas export to shore and future subsea tiebacks from other reservoirs and fields.
First oil is on track for late 2023.
Woodside is operator and has an 82% participating interest in the project, with PETROSEN holding the remaining 18%.
