Singapore-made offshore vessel strikes first oil in Senegal

Photo credit: World Oil

A crude oil production vessel manufactured by Keppel Shipyard in Singapore has made history by processing the first oil extracted from the Sangomar oil field in Senegal – making the West African republic the newest oil producer in the world.

Located approximately 100km south of Senegalese capital, Dakar, the deepwater Sangomar oil field is operated by Woodside Energy of Australia. Keppel Shipyard was contracted by and MODEC of Japan to build specific aspects of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO). 

An FPSO is a vessel designed to process, store and transport oil or gas from offshore wells to tankers or pipelines. Permanently moored at a depth of approximately 780m, the FPSO can process 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day and has a storage capacity of 1.3m barrels.

The commencement of oil production at Sangomar heralds a new era for Senegal, with gas production also set to begin by the end of the year at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) offshore gas field, which straddles the maritime border between Mauritania and Senegal. Early projections indicate that the first phase of the project will produce about 2.5 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) annually. Here, too, a Singaporean company is involved. Seatrium has converted an end-of-life liquefied natural gas tanker into a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel, designed to liquefy natural gas from offshore fields, for the GTA project. Seatrium delivered the vessel, named Gimi, to its client Golar LNG in November.

Enterprise Singapore (ESG), a state-run body that assists local firms internationalise, led a business delegation to Senegal and Mauritania last year.

Among the notable upcoming projects in the region is the ultra-deepwater Yakaar-Teranga gas venture in Senegal, primarily owned by US-based Kosmos Energy. Yakaar-Teranga, one of the most significant gas discoveries in recent years, features gas with low carbon dioxide content and minimal impurities, simplifying the processing required before transportation and liquefaction. This project is expected to become a vital natural gas source for Senegal’s gas-to-power initiatives.

 

References

‘Keppel O&M awarded floating production contracts worth around S$75 million’, Keppel, 01 August 2022 

‘Sangomar FPSO relocating to Singapore’, Offshore, 30 November 2022

‘BP in talks to exit Senegal's Yakaar-Teranga natural gas field’, Yahoo Finance, 20 October 2023

‘Kosmos Energy increases working interest and assumes operatorship of Yakaar-Teranga’, Kosmos Energy Ltd., 06 November 2023

‘Kosmos Energy increases working interest and assumes operatorship of Yakaar-Teranga’, Kosmos Energy Ltd., 06 November 2023

‘Seatrium delivers world’s second floating liquefaction vessel conversion for sustainable LNG production’, Seatrium Limited, 20 November 2023

‘LinkedIn post’, EnterpriseSG – Africa, November 2023

‘Sangomar first oil teleconference transcript’, Woodside Energy, 11 June 2024

‘Woodside achieves first oil at Sangomar in Senegal’, Woodside Energy, 11 June 2024

‘Woodside's Sangomar project produces first oil in Senegal’, Reuters, 12 June 2024

‘Senegal starts producing oil as president promises benefits’, BBC, 12 June 2024

‘MODEC congratulates Senegal and Woodside on first oil at Sangomar Field Development Phase 1’, MODEC, 12 June 2024