bp PLC has moved timing of expected first gas from Phase 1 of the Greater Tortue (GTA) project offshore Mauritania and Senegal to first-quarter 2024 from end-2023 due to a delay in completion of the subsea work scope, the operator said in its second-quarter earnings update last week.
GTA is 120 km offshore in water depth of 2,850 m and holds estimated gas resources of 15 tcf. Phase 1 will export gas from four subsea wells to an FPSO about 40 km offshore at which the gas will be processed for export to a 2.3-million tonne/year (tpy) floating LNG plant (FLNG Gimi) 10 km offshore.
A plan is in place to finish installation of the infield flowlines and subsea structures in first-quarter 2024 with delivery of the other work scopes now being optimized for the updated project schedule, partner Kosmos Energy said in its earnings release Aug. 7.
The floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel is now expected to arrive in this year’s fourth quarter. It had earlier been expected at the end of the second quarter. The vessel left COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.’s Qidong, China, yard in January 2023, stopping in Singapore to install the fair leads. Arrival on location is expected in fourth-quarter 2023 to align with the revised schedule for the subsea work scope.
Construction and mechanical completion activities are wrapping up on the FLNG plant and pre-commissioning work is under way. Sailaway is targeted for the end of this year’s third quarter and arrival expected at yearend when hookup work is scheduled to begin.
Construction on the hub terminal is complete. Activity is now focused on progressing handover to operations in third-quarter 2023, Kosmos said.
Additionally, all four planned wells have been drilled and completed with expected production capacity ‘significantly higher than what is required for first gas,’ the company said.