Nigerdock, an indigenous energy services company, has successfully fabricated and loaded out the sixth structures for $3.3 billion Egina Floating Production, Storage and Offloading, FPSO, project.
The sixth fabricated structures sailed away penultimate Friday from Nigerdock’s Snake Island Integrated Free Zone, SIIFZ, facility in Lagos to Samsung Heavy Industries yard in South Korea to be integrated into the main Egina FPSO vessel.
The Egina FPSO is part of the overall $13.6 billion Egina development project, a flagship venture for Total Nigeria, planned to facilitate crude oil production from the Egina oil field located some 130 kilometres off the coast of Nigeria at water depths of more than 1,500 metres.
Construction and load-out of the final structures for the FPSO project, the seventh and last in the series, is expected to commence before the end of this month.
Speaking during the load out ceremony for the sixth structures, General Manager, Capacity Building Division, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, Engineer Ikpomosa Oviasu, who represented the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote, said the achievement of Nigerdock had clearly demonstrated the competencies of Nigerian-trained workforce.
He stated that the board had initiated steps to fast-track strategies to protect local capacity that had been developed by service operators through its proposed medium-term plan that would require all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to synergise on new projects to sustain jobs and capacity in facilities.
Samsung Site Representative, Nigerdock yard, Chinchai Chung, said Nigerdock had displayed commitment, competence and safety during the period of fabrication.
He noted that the Egina FPSO project has seven load-out and sail-away schedules, stressing that five were done in 2016. “This is the sixth sail-away and we are almost done,” he said.
He later confirmed to Sweetcrude that the seventh event in the load-out and sail-away schedule would likely come up before the end of April.
Project Manager, Nigerdock Egina Project, Adebola Adesoye, said the Egina project was a success story because of the dedication, commitment and support of Nigerdock workforce.
“All of them, from the welders to the fitters, riggers, scaffolders, painters, to the marine team, have contributed immensely to the success of this project,” he said.
Director, Egina Project at Total, Jean Michael Guy, said: “The ceremony today is further proof that we are well on our way to delivering this important project to Nigeria and our partners. We also celebrate the re-branding of Nigerdock training centre where Egina FPSO’s human capacity development training have been trained and deployed to work on various aspect of the Egina FPSO fabrication.
“For us in Total,” Guy says, “our achievement is when we deliver our commitments despite prevailing challenges. What we are seeing today is that all of us together delivered our collective aspirations and commitments. Today we celebrate one of the major milestones of the project which is the six loads out campaign from Nigerdock.”
Also speaking at the loadout ceremony, Group Managing Director, Jagal Energy, Chris Bennett, commended the management and staff of Nigerdock for their contributions towards the accomplished project. He said the timely delivery of the fabricated structures for the Egina FPSO was another significant achievement and boost to the local content initiative in Nigeria.
“Nigerdock remains the foremost local content champion, committed to the vision of building the country’s local capacity and delivering value to the economy. Our capacity and capabilities have been reaffirmed through the success of Egina FPSO Project. It gives our clients and the government a measure of confidence, trust and reassurance that Nigerdock can operate with global best practice.
“We continuously set the highest standards. That’s why we have recorded a series of firsts in the industry. Remarkably, these projects were executed in Nigeria without any LTI (Lost Time injury) which compares with the best in class in Europe and America,” he explained.
Nigerdock has delivered a significant tonnage of the Egina project which includes the Riser Porch, Flare Tower, Helideck Structure, Protection Structure, Access Tower, Crew Boat Berthing Structure, Crane Pedestal, Telecom Mast, Living Quarter Blocks, Laydown Area Blocks, Muster Station, Work Boat Structure, and Vertical Caissons, among others, with a combined weight of 7,336 tonnes.
These were loaded out in phases at Nigerdock’s facility at the Snake Island in Lagos recently.