The Republic of Congo has contracted an Italian oilfield services company for the offshore work to convert a semisubmersible drilling unit into a separation and boosting plant Floating Production Unit (FPU).
Eni Congo announced on Friday that it has selected the Milan-based company – Saipem to convert the Scarabeo 5 FPU semisubmersible production platform that will be equipped to receive the production fluids from wellheads riser platforms and subsequently separate the gas from liquids.
The platform will boost the gas to feed the nearby floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) unit.
Earlier this year, Saipem signed an agreement with Eni Congo for the preliminary engineering and procurement activities including the engineering, procurement, construction, transportation and commissioning of the FPU.
The FPU is due to be installed offshore the coast of the Republic of Congo, north-west of the Djeno Terminal in water depth of about 35 metres.
Saipem plans to commission offshore works and launch the FPU by the fourth quarter of 2025.
The contract forms part of Eni’s Congo LNG Project which is expected to be the country’s first natural gas liquefaction project.
Scheduled to be commissioned in 2025, the project aims to have LNG production capacity of three million tonnes per year – around 4.5 billion cubic metres of liquefaction capacity via two floating LNG (FLNG) facilities.
It will capture gas from the Marine XII licence with some going to domestic power use while the rest is exported.
The first FLNG unit is under conversion and is set to begin production this year.
Besides Eni Congo contract, Saipem also announced the award of the BP in the Gulf of Mexico worth a combined $700m.
