By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is set to receive another landmark development with in-country fabrication and integration of the Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) facility being
built by Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) of Korea for Nigeria’s Egina deep-water oil field.
The Nigerian oil and gas industry stakeholders are awaiting the integration of the Egina Floating Production Storage Offloading facility in the country as the project nears completion. Industry stakeholders have described the Egina FPSO as the largest in Nigeria, and the first to be
fabricated and integrated locally in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said that the board will collaborate with ancillary agencies to facilitate the integration of the FPSO units in Nigeria.
It would be the first time such integration would happen in the country as six modules of the Total Egina FPSO had been successfully fabricated in the country.
The Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr. Simbi Wabote, said, “The Nigerian oil and gas industry needs more projects to build capacity and keep existing facilities from wasting.
“We are happy with the progress of the project and its contribution to local content and the national economy. The FPSOs have been built abroad in the past and moved straight to site. This is the first time that many Nigerians will see what it looks like.”
The leadership of the NCDMB and other agencies such as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, the Nigerian Ports Authority, the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, recently declared their commitment to collaborate on the
integration of the FPSO.
According to SHI’s report, the giant FPSO has sailed away from its Geoje shipyard on Tuesday, October 31 2017, heading to Nigeria. It will take three months for it to reach Nigeria in the second half of 2018.