LNG

Golar LNG Ltd, the shipping company with a small but growing fleet of floating liquefied natural gas production and project vessels including the “Hilli Episeyo” offshore Cameroon and the “FLNG Gimi” for offshore Mauritania and Senegal, has signed another FLNG accord, this time with Nigeria.

UK major BP said the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, a key component of the floating LNG development on the maritime border of Senegal and Mauritania in West Africa, has arrived at its final location.

Golar LNG Ltd, the shipping company with a small but growing fleet of floating liquefied natural gas production and project vessels including the “Hilli Episeyo” offshore Cameroon and the “FLNG Gimi” for offshore Mauritania and Senegal, swung to a profit from a previous loss.

Côte d'Ivoire is continuing to benefit from the ramp-up of the Baleine oil and gas field as part of a world-class hub of oil, pipeline natural gas and LNG exports and imports being built out to improve economic prosperity in West Africa from Mauritania in the North to Angola in the South.

Woodside Energy, the leading liquefied natural gas operator in Western Australia, said the “Léopold Sédar Senghor” floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit had safely arrived off the West African state of Senegal for a key oil project.

“This is a significant step toward achieving first production from the Sangomar oil field which is targeted for mid-2024,” said Woodside.

The FPSO’s delivery for the Sangomar oil venture follows the arrival of an FLNG production vessel in November 2023 for a separate project run by UK major BP that will also benefit Senegal as well as its neighbour Mauritania.

Oil output nearer

The Perth-based company said that the arrival of the FPSO, named after the first President of Senegal, from Singapore to its final destination, located 100 kilometres (62 miles) offshore the Sengalese capital Dakar, marked the start of the next phase of the project.

Woodside will now help oversee the commissioning of the FPSO and the hooking up to the 23 production, gas and water injection wells that make up the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1.

Woodside Chief Executive Meg O’Neill said the Sangomar project was advancing to the company’s satisfaction.

“The FPSO arrival brings us closer to first production,” said O’Neill.

“We are proud to be Senegal’s first offshore oil project operator and firmly believe that this project will prove to be important to Senegal’s future development and prosperity,” O’Neill stated.

“In addition to developing Senegal’s energy resources, we have already begun working with the Government of Senegal, local businesses and communities to develop programs that create business opportunities, build local capabilities, foster employment opportunities, and bring broad economic benefits as a result of our operations,” O’Neill explained.

The Woodside CEO also praised the role of the Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen),  the national oil and gas company, as a contracting partner in the venture.

The Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 includes the stand-alone FPSO with subsea infrastructure and an expected production capacity of around 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

LNG developments

Senegal is also separately involved in floating LNG joint ventures being developed by BP and Kosmos Energy along with the governments of Senegal and Mauritania in the offshore Greater Tortue Ahmeyim natural gas fields.

Seatrium Group of Singapore converted and delivered an LNG floating production vessel, the “Gimi FLNG”, to be stationed at a nearshore hub located on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border, and is expected to begin production in 2024 as part of the first phase of the FLNG venture.

The “Gimi FLNG” was converted by Seatrium in a project in partnership with Norway’s Golar LNG from a 1975-built Moss LNG carrier with a storage capacity of 125,000 cubic metres.

It is designed for 20 years of operations on-site without dry docking, with a liquefaction capacity of 2.7 million tonnes per annum and is contracted to operate near shore in 30 metres of water depth.

Italian major Eni said it had begun to introduce feed gas into the “Tango FLNG” floating production plant ahead of the shipping of the first cargo in a project located offshore the Republic of Congo in West Africa.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the Northwest Shelf and Pluto LNG plants in Western Australia, has received a boost for one of its main overseas ventures, the Sangomar project offshore Senegal in West Africa, with the sail-away from Singapore of the “Léopold Sédar Senghor” floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility.

Kosmos Energy, the Dallas-based oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, has posted solid earnings and plans a new LNG export project from the Yakaar-Teranga gas fields offshore Senegal in addition to the ongoing FLNG ventures based on the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim resources shared between Senegal and Mauritania.

BP said its US subsidiary Archaea Energy has started up its first Archaea Modular Design (AMD) renewable natural gas plant in Medora in Indiana following the $4-billion acquisition a year ago of the bio-natural gas fuel player.

June 26 (LNGJ) - The International Energy Agency, the Paris-based inter-governmental body, has welcomed future West African LNG producer Senegal as a member along with Kenya, the leading economy in East Africa. The IEA said that this brought the number of sub-Saharan African countries in the IEA to three with South Africa already a member.

   “We have worked closely with Senegal since 2019, including providing input into the design of market reforms to enhance governance in the country’s energy sector,” said the IEA. “Kenya is currently working with us on a wide range of topics, including data and statistics,” it added.