Wison has commenced construction for the Baleine phase 3 FPSO
Chinese offshore contractor Wison New Energies has cut first steel for the hull of the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to be deployed at Eni’s Baleine Phase 3 project offshore Ivory Coast.
Yard activities, including first steel cut for the hull, kicked off on 30 August, Wison said in a social media post on Monday.
The vessel is designed to handle 90,000 barrels per day of oil, 160 million cubic feet per day of gas and 80,000 bpd of produced water, and it store up to 1.4 million barrels of crude.
The final investment decision in May was taken for the Baleine Phase 3 project. Norway’s Altera Infrastructure secured the contract to provide the FPSO, after supplying a cylindrical FPSO and floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit for Phase 2.
The FPSO for Phase 3 will be approximately 308 metres long, 57 metres wide and 29.8 metres deep, Wison said in an earlier statement upon securing the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) role.
Italian major Eni operates Baleine with a 37.25% stake and is partnered by Vitol on 30%, local group Petroci on 22.75% and Azerbaijan’s state-owned company Socar on 10%.
Total oil and gas production from the Baleine asset is expected to reach approximately 150,000 bpd of oil and 200 MMcfd of gas, with all produced gas piped to the domestic market, once Phase 3 is on stream.
TechnipFMC secured the subsea package for the project, with its workscope including the flexible flowlines and risers to connect wells in water depths of approximately 1200 metres to the new FPSO.
“We look forward to the project’s next important milestone — the first steel cut for the topsides — and to maintaining this momentum as the project progresses toward successful delivery,” Wison added.
A spokesperson from Wison New Energies declined to comment on specific construction timelines.
The contractor on Monday also signed a collaboration agreement to advance its floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) offerings by integrating Shell’s Dual Mixed Refrigerant (DMR) liquefaction technology, which it said was previously deployed only on Shell-equity projects.
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