WEST AFRICA
Nigerian yards tackle wide-ranging subsea
spread for deepwater Egina development
Jeremy Beckman
Editor, Europe N NPC and OML 130 license opera- tor Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd., in association with partners Sapetro, Petrobras and CNOOC, have initiat- ed the Egina project, their third major deepwater development offshore Nigeria
since mid-2005. The feld was discovered in
2003 in the OML 130 block in 1,750 m ( 5,741
ft) of water, 20 km ( 12. 4 mi) southwest of
the Akpo feld complex in the same license.
Development calls for 44 subsea wells con-
nected to a 330-m ( 1,082-ft) long FPSO with
an oil storage capacity of 2. 3 MMbbl. Total is
aiming for start-up at the end of 2017, build-
ing to plateau production of 200,000 b/d.
Among the major awards issued soon af-
ter the project’s announcement in late June
was Saipem’s $3-billion contract for Egina’s
subsea facilities. This involves engineering,
procurement, fabrication, installation, and pre-
commissioning of 52 km ( 32 mi) of oil produc-
tion and water injection fowlines; 12 fexible
jumpers; 2 km ( 1. 2 mi) of oil export line; 20 km
of gas export pipelines; along with installation
and commissioning of 80 km ( 49. 7 mi) of steel
tube umbilicals and the mooring of the FPSO
and the offshore oil loading terminal (OLT)
buoy. Most of the fabrication will be per-
formed in Nigeria, with marine installations to
follow during 2016 and the early part of 2017.
Offshore spoke to Guido d’Aloisio,
Saipem’s project director for the Egina UFR
(umbilicals, fowlines, risers) project, which
is the largest in the company’s history.
Of fshore: Why is the value of this contract
so high?
D’Aloisio: This is mainly due to the wide-ranging scope and the long offshore installation
campaign. The price also takes into account in-fation in Nigeria, where costs of construction,
materials, and labor are growing year on year.
Offshore: How long has Saipem operated a
manufacturing and engineering base in Nigeria?
D’Aloisio: The Saipem group has been
present in Nigeria for more than 45 years.
Saipem Contracting Nigeria Ltd. (SCNL)’s
Rumuolumeni yard in Port Harcourt was es-
tablished in 1999. It grew over the years to
reach today’s total area of 700,000 sq m ( 7. 5
million sq ft), of which 30,000 sq m (322,917
sq ft) are covered. We implemented an exten-
sive upgrading program for the Usan project
to turn the asset into an international-class fab-
rication yard and logistics base, with state-of-
the-art facilities, including new cranes. This is
for sure the most extensive yard in West Africa
in terms of acreage and equipment, with an
increased fabrication capacity of 22,000 tons/
yr, suffcient to handle the Egina UFR project
requirements.
Offshore: Can you outline Saipem’s involvement in Total’s previous deepwater projects
offshore Nigeria?
D’Aloisio: In May 2005, Saipem was awarded the EPCI contract for Total Upstream Nigeria’s Akpo UFR feld development in 1,350
m ( 4,429 ft) water depth, around 200 km (124
mi) south of Port Harcourt. Our scope comprised engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning of the
umbilicals, fowlines, and risers; the offshore
oil loading terminal; the FPSO mooring system; and the gas export pipeline from Akpo to
the shallow-water Amenam AMP2 platform.
Under this contract Nigerian companies
provided 1. 5 million man hours of work, and
the onshore fabrication work was performed
mainly by the SCNL Rumuolumeni yard.
Just under three years later, Elf Petroleum
Nigeria (Total) awarded a consortium led by
Saipem the UFR and OLT contract for the
Usan Deep Water development in 730-850
m ( 2,395-2,789 ft) water depth, some 160 km
(99.4 mi) south of Port Harcourt. Here our
scope included engineering, procurement,
construction, installation, pre-commissioning,
assistance for commissioning, and start-up of
72 km ( 44. 7 mi) of subsea umbilicals, 61 km
( 38 mi) of fowlines and risers connecting the
42 subsea wells to the FPSO. We were also responsible for the OLT, comprising an offoading buoy and two offoading lines, in addition
to part of the FPSO anchoring system.
More recently, Saipem has also been
awarded the OFON2-D030 contract by Total
E&P Nigeria Ltd. for new offshore facilities
for the Ofon feld, about 50 km ( 31 mi) off
the southern coast of Nigeria.
Saipem’s scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and
installation of the OFP2 jacket (comprising
the 1,970 ton jacket structures and the 4,500-
ton piles), as well as the transportation and
The subsea layout for the
Ugina UFR facilities.
