The conversion of Ghana's first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is on track after the vessel's official naming on May 1.
The FPSO 'Kwame Nkrumah MV21' is currently undergoing conversion works at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. It will be deployed in an assignment in offshore Ghana's Jubilee Field.
'Kwame Nkrumah MV21' was officially named by its sponsor, Ernestina Naadu Mills, the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, in a ceremony at Jurong Shipyard on May 1. The milestone naming was witnessed by a high-level Ghanaian government delegation, including Ghana's Minister of Energy Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, key representatives from Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) and partners of the Jubilee Field Development, as well as management and staff of MODEC and Jurong Shipyard.
"Ghana is on the verge of becoming an oil-producing country sometime in the last quarter of 2010 when under Phase I of the Jubilee Field project, 120,000 barrels of oil a day and 3.4 million cubic metres of dry gas per day would be produced," said Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills.
The FPSO 'Kwame Nkrumah MV21' will leave shortly for the Jubilee Field, one of West Africa's largest oil fields recently discovered offshore the western coast of Ghana, under a long-term charter with Tullow Ghana. The FPSO is scheduled to deliver first oil in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Designed to operate for 20 years without dry-docking, FPSO 'Kwame Nkrumah MV21' is equipped with the biggest turret ever constructed in the oil industry. The FPSO is capable of processing 120,000 barrels of oil per day and 160 MMscfd of production gas, with a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of oil and a water injection rate of 230,000 barrels of water per day.
The conversion of FPSO 'Kwame Nkrumah MV21' from VLCCC tanker 'Ohdoh' (ex-'Tohdoh') encompassed detailed engineering, installation and integration of 17 modules, including a water treatment plant, crude separation plant, chemical injection plant, gas process and injection plant, the turret, electricity generation plant and a 120-room accommodation facility.
"The FPSO 'Kwame Nkrumah MV21' is assembled for the future of Ghana," said Aidan Heavey, Chief Executive Officer of Tullow Oil. "We have a huge responsibility for health, safety and environment and to ensure that the oil that flows up from the earth through this fantastic vessel fuels the growth of Ghana's economy."
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