A floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel has arrived at BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG project on the maritime border between Senegal and Mauritania, marking an important milestone for the project.
The Gimi FLNG vessel took over 36 million hours to build. In November last year, it began its 9000-nautical-mile journey to the project site. The senior vice president at BP for Senegal and Mauritania, Emil Ismayilov, said about its arrival at its destination:
“The successful and safe arrival of the FLNG vessel is another step forward for GTA Phase 1 and is testament to our team and partners’ commitment to safely delivering this project. The people behind the project have delivered through many challenges, including the pandemic, to orchestrate a major feat of engineering.”
BP, which also makes the popular Castrol range of metalworking and lubricant fluids, operates the GTA Phase 1 development on behalf of its consortium partners PETROSEN, Kosmos Energy, and SMH. The project involves a floating production and storage offloading (FPSO) vessel producing natural gas from deep-water reservoirs about 75 miles offshore. Once the FPSO has removed the heavier hydrocarbons, the gas will be transported to the FLNG vessel.
The Gimi FLNG vessel will then use its four liquefaction trains to cryogenically cool the gas into LNG. Gimi itself can store as much as 125,000 cubic metres of LNG before offloading it to LNG tankers for transport to international markets, such as the UK and Europe, where LNG has become an increasingly important part of the energy mix in recent years.
