‘LNG project progresses with infield pipelay finished’

BP PLC has made significant progress on its Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG project offshore Mauritania and Senegal by completing the infield pipelay scope. Allseas announced the completion of the work scope, using the Pioneering Spirit construction vessel. Production crew successfully completed the final piece of pipe for the second 16-inch export gas line after two months in the field.

The pipeline, which landed in a 2-meter target box at a water depth of 2,400 meters, will be recovered in J-mode configuration for the installation of the termination assembly. The vessel has been equipped with a bespoke J-mode frame with a 1,000-tonne load capacity for this purpose.

The pipelay scope includes approximately 75 kilometers of 16-inch export lines and 10 kilometers of 10-inch CRA infield lines, with some of the pipeline infrastructure exceeding 2,700 meters water depth. Pioneering Spirit will finalize the offshore works by installing the six remaining flowline termination assemblies.

Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) is located 120 kilometers offshore in water depths of 2,850 meters and is estimated to hold gas resources of 15 trillion cubic feet. Phase 1 of the project will export gas from four subsea wells to an FPSO located about 40 kilometers offshore. The gas will be processed on the FPSO and transported by pipeline to the 2.3-million ton per year floating LNG plant (FLNG Gimi) situated 10 kilometers offshore. The gas will be cryogenically cooled in the vessel’s four liquefaction trains and stored before being transferred to LNG carriers.

GTA Phase 1 is expected to produce around 2.3 million tons per year and operate for more than 20 years. BP is the operator of the GTA project with partners PETROSEN, Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures (SMH), and Kosmos Energy.