COVER STORY
Yinson Continues FPSO Work Around the Globe OGI sits down with regular contributor and FPSO specialist Yinson, to talk a bit about how they help keep energy flowing around the world during these difficult times that we face with the Covid-19 Pandemic. It’s no small feat to complete the conversion of an FPSO for Nigeria in possibly record time of only 7 months. Yinson’s operations in Nigeria and Ghana has enabled them to recruit from the local talent pool through the provision of training and talent development, while simultaneously building up local participation via local suppliers. The company has also managed to support the local populations with essential medical equipment in the ongoing fight against Covid-19. FPSO Anna Nery. OGI: Could you talk about the status of the projects you are currently executing? Yinson: Yinson currently has two FPSO projects under construction. The first is FPSO Abigail-Joseph, chartered by FIRST E&P for use in the Anyala and Madu field in Nigeria. The FPSO’s conversion and life extension phase was completed in late February 2020 at the Keppel Benoi shipyard in Singapore. This phase was completed safely in less than 7 months, which is believed to be the world’s fastest delivery of a brownfield FPSO modification and upgrading project. She had a relatively smooth voyage to Nigeria, with timelines only slightly affected by the Covid-19 situation. She arrived at her final destination at the Anyala and Madu field in offshore Nigeria on 23 July 2020 and had all mooring lines hooked-up in mid-August. Hook-up of risers and umbilicals to the FPSO was completed in early September. We look forward to completing final commissioning and achieving the next milestone, first oil production. Our second vessel under construction is FPSO Anna Nery, which is our first Brazil asset and our largest project to date. LOIs were signed with our client Petrobras in October 2019, then definitive contracts entered into in March 2020. Sumitomo Corporation is partnering with us on this project with a 25% stake. FPSO Anna Nery has also recently entered into the next phase of
construction, marked by the sailing away from the Cosco Qidong shipyard to the Cosco Changxing shipyard in Shanghai, China. In this phase, the FPSO will undergo both first and second dry docking and hull reinforcement works. Conversion works are progressing well, with demolition activities completed, and module fabrication works underway. In another project milestone, FPSO Anna Nery achieved 1 million manhours without Lost Time Injury (“LTI”) in mid-September 2020.
OGI: Could you tell us more about your operations in Africa? Yinson: Having established our presence in the African region starting with Nigeria through our predecessor, Fred Olsen Production ASA some 25 years ago, our operations in Africa has always been strong. Currently, we have two projects in Nigeria – FPSO Adoon for client, Addax Petroleum, and recently arrived at the Anyala and Madu oil field, FPSO AbigailJoseph as mentioned above. The Ghana oil and gas market may be relatively young when compared to others in the region, but we are pleased to observe that increasing consistency and stability in regulatory measures are developing nicely. In Ghana, we have FPSO John Agyekum Kufuor (“FPSO JAK”) by client, ENI. While the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has affected our operations in Ghana and subsequently our financial results for the first two quarters of 2020, we are pleased to share that our production and safety performance has remained unchanged and remain at world class excellence levels. In both countries, we strive to remain as not only the partner of choice to our clients with our unrivalled production uptime and excellent safety performance, but also an employer of choice to the local talent pool
FPSO Abigail-Joseph’s Construction Management Team.
