By Sami Zaptia.
London, 21 May 2016:
The Gaza Floating, Storage, Offloading Marine Terminal (FSO) has today arrived in Libyan waters at the Mellitah Oil and Gas operated offshore Bouri field, 120 km northwest of Tripoli. It has been travelling since March.
The FSO was manufactured at a cost of over US$ 500 million by South Korean main contractor SFX in the Southern Korean port of Busan. The Gaza FSO will replace the existing, but aging, Sloug FSO, which has been in situ since 1989.
Installation of the floating terminal was planned for 2015, but the Libyan conflict as well as a delay by the manufacturer has led to a 12-month delay in the completion/arrival of the FSO.
The Bouri field is part of Block NC41. Water depth at the site is 158 m and the field includes a central processing platform DP4 and satellite platform DP3 in water depths of 170m.
Treated crude oil from two platforms will be pumped and stored via 2 (two) 16” sea lines onto the FSO Gaza which will be permanently moored to a Single Point Mooring system and offloading to a shuttle tanker from the stern.
The Bouri oil and gas field was discovered in 1976 and production started in 1988.
On another level, it will be recalled that the Audit Bureau in its 2015 Annual Report (pp284-286) criticized Mellitah Oil and Gas for its dealings with the main contractor STX. STX was under financial pressure and changed the terms of the contract, including the place of manufacture and increased charges of US$ 11 million. The Audit Bureau found no justification for the increased charges. [/restrict]
