Jurong Shipyard to send offshore converted Ghana vessel

FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21 will leave for the Jubilee Field located offshore Ghana's western coast.

Ghana's First Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21, successfully converted by Sembcorp Marine's subsidiary Jurong Shipyard for MODEC, is on track for its landmark assignment offshore Ghana's Jubilee Field following its official naming, according to a Sembcorp report Tuesday.

Set to be an integral part of the Phase 1 development plan for Ghana's Jubilee Field, FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21 was officially named by Lady Sponsor Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, the First Lady of the Republic of Ghana, in a ceremony at Jurong Shipyard on 1 May 2010. The milestone naming was witnessed by a high-level Ghanaian government delegation, including Ghana's Minister of Energy Dr. Joe Oteng-Adjei, key representatives from Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) and partners of the Jubilee Field Development, as well as management and staff of MODEC and Jurong Shipyard.

The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21 will leave shortly for the Jubilee Field, one of West Africa's largest oil fields recently discovered offshore the western coast of Ghana, under a long-term charter with Tullow Ghana Ltd. The FPSO is scheduled to deliver First Oil in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Designed to operate for 20 years without dry-docking, FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21 is equipped with the biggest turret ever constructed in the oil industry. The FPSO is capable of processing 120,000 barrels of oil per day and 160 MMscfd of production gas, with a storage capacity of 1,600,000 barrels of oil and a water injection rate of 230,000 barrels of water per day.

The conversion of FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21 from the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) tanker Ohdoh (ex Tohdoh) encompassed detailed engineering, installation and integration of 17 modules, including a water treatment plant, crude separation plant, chemical injection plant, gas process and injection plant, the turret, electricity generation plant and a 120-room accommodation facility.

Affirming the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21 as a key milestone in Ghana's journey to pumping first oil, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, First Lady of the Republic of Ghana said that its significance will reverberate into the Ghana's future and the country's oil and gas industry.