Offshore staff
HOUSTON – VAALCO Energy Inc. expects to deploy a Floating Storage and Offloading vessel (FSO) at the Etame field offshore Gabon later this year, in place of the incumbent FPSO.
According to the company, field reconfiguration activities should begin this month, with all engineering, work on long-lead equipment and main contracts progressing in the run-up to the scheduled deployment in September.
Cap Diamant, the double-hull crude tanker that is being re-engineered as an FSO, arrived at a shipyard in Bahrain late last month for final modifications and certifications.
Sea trials should start in late June followed by mobilization to Gabon.
The new FSO should cut storage and offloading costs at Etame by almost 50%, increase storage capacity by over 50%, and extend the field’s economic life, VAALCO claimed.
Capital investments totaling in the range $40-50 million should lead to operational savings of up to $25 million/year, with a payback period of less than two and a half years.
3/1/2022
