Agip Sustains Production Of Abo Oil Field With New FPSO Contract

Abo oil field operations are being sustained after Oslo-listed Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading(FPSO) leasing firm, BW Offshore again signed another short-term extension for one of its FPSOs in Nigeria, with Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd.

The Offshore firm has also signified intention under the deal to sell the unit.

The company said on Monday it had signed a short-term extension for Abo FPSO with Agip, a subsidiary of ENI S.p.A., until August 31, 2023.

This short-term extension follows several others in the past months, the previous being a two-week extension that was set to expire August 14, 2023.

BW Offshore has been in talks to divest the FPSO, which is operating at the Abo field offshore Nigeria, and is seen as non-core to its FPSO fleet.  

The ABO FPSO started production in April 2003. Keppel converted it from the 1976-built single-hull Suezmax tanker Grey Warrior, which was previously owned by Prosafe.

WER database shows that the FPSO has an oil production capacity of 44,000 b/d, a gas handling capacity of 44 million cubic feet daily mmcf/d, and can store 930,000 barrels bbls. The vessel is spread-moored in a water depth of 500 meters.  

The Abo field is located in Block OML 125, offshore Nigeria.

In 2022, production from the block was derived mainly from the Abo field, which yielded approximately 14 kboe/d net to Eni.

In August 2022, Eni finalised a twenty-year extension of the PSC agreement for the OML 125 block.

In addition, Eni signed an agreement with the State company NNPC to recover past receivables related to the OML 125 development and production activities, starting in 2023.

BW Offshore has been working to offload the non-core FPSO fleet, including the Abo FPSO.

In July, the company sold FPSO Sendje Berge in Nigeria to “a local FPSO owner and operator” for $15 million. Before that, BW Offshore sold the Espoir Ivoirien, BW Anthena, and BW Opportunity.

The BW Offshore’s core FPSO projects include the Barossa FPSO being built for Santos in Australia, BW Adolo, which produces oil for BW Energy in Gabon, BW Catcher, which is on a contract with Harbour Energy in the UK North Sea, and BW Pioneer, which is on a contract with Murphy Oil Corporation in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.