Eni SPA has let a contract to Altera Infrastructure LLC for redeployment of the Voyageur Spirit floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel as well as the Nordic Brasilia shuttle tanker for use on the Baleine Phase 2 development project offshore Ivory Coast.
The vessels are set for deployment on Baleine field with a 15-year firm contract. Project start-up is expected in fourth-quarter 2024.
The vessels are currently undergoing life extension work and field specific modifications at Drydocks World-Dubai shipyard. Voyageur Spirit is a cylindrical FPSO that operated on Huntington field in the North Sea until 2020. The Nordic Brasilia shuttle tanker will be converted into an FSO to provide additional storage capacity to the Voyageur FPSO. Altera will own and operate both vessels.
Baleine is the largest Ivory Coast hydrocarbon discovery and is Africa’s first net zero emissions project (Scope 1 and 2). Phase 2 is expected to increase field production to 50,000 b/d of oil and about 70 MMscfd of associated gas. The third development phase aims to elevate field production up to 150,000 b/d of oil and 200 MMscfd of gas (OGJ Online, Sept. 8, 2023).
ENI is operator over Blocks CI-101 and CI-802 which contain Baleine field.