In a statement announcing the naming and sail away ceremony for the Virini Prem Floating Storage Offloading vessel (FSO) at the Yulian shipyard in China, both companies noted that an indigenous company, Century Energy Services will be the ship crewing agent in Nigeria.
According to the statement, the Virini Prem, a 267 metre and 174,917 ton vessel which has been refurbished at the Yulian shipyard in China, will store and offload for export, stabilised crude oil that will be produced and processed at a dedicated Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) at the field location.
The FSO, according to the statement, has a storage capacity of 1.2 million barrels and will accommodate regular crude oil off take by tankers up to VLCC size.
The statement reads, “Refurbishment work included steel replacement in certain sections of the hull, existing equipment on the vessel (such as export pumps), installation of a helideck and accommodation modules for up to 50 crew.
“The fiscal metering package has successfully undergone acceptance testing to DPR approved standards. The successful execution of refurbishment work on the FSO is a major milestone for the Ebok project.”
The statement noted that in readiness for the arrival of the FSO, all 12 mooring lines have also been successfully pre-installed at the field location.
Furthermore, the statement explained that fabrication of all flowlines required to transfer produced crude oil from the MOPU to the FSO has been completed, which will be stowed on the FSO for transport to the field.
“Development drilling activities remain on schedule at the field, where six horizontal production wells and one water injection well are being drilled and completed in advance of the FSO and MOPU arrival.
“Ebok is one of the largest independent developments undertaken in Nigeria to date and Oriental and Afren believe that the field is part of a prolific hydrocarbon area that has substantial further potential. “Afren extended its asset base in 2009 and 2010 to include further partnerships with Oriental in the Okwok and OML 115 assets adjacent to Ebok.
Appraisal well drilling is shortly due to commence at Okwok and will be followed by an exploration well on OML 115,” the statement reads.
The companies noted that the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum led the Nigerian Government’s delegation, together with representatives from the Nigerian National Assembly, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the National Oil Company, NNPC, at the ceremony.
They added that the event was also attended by representatives of the Chinese government, the board of Oriental led by its Chairman Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, senior personnel from Mercator and representatives from the local Effiat community which will be employed as crew on the vessel.