Thanks to the experience and expertise of colleagues in our Houston and Monaco offices, the execution team at our Malaysia office in Kuala Lumpur has completed a major FPSO project in record time.
A first for our Malaysia office
Following final operational, safety and seaworthiness tests, the SBM Offshore FPSO unit Aseng is now in use by Noble Energy under a 15-year operation and maintenance contract. This is the second FPSO unit we have delivered for use offshore from Equatorial Guinea and the first to be executed by our Malaysia office in Kuala Lumpur.
We have brought the Aseng into operation just 24 months after signing the contract – a new record for SBM Offshore – thanks to the effective cooperation between our teams in Houston, Monaco and Kuala Lumpur. Colleagues in our Houston and Monaco offices worked together to handle sales, legal, estimate and proposal, while our Kuala Lumpur team worked with experts in Monaco to deliver key engineering stages, including the swivel and mechanical turret elements. All conversion, construction and commissioning work took place in Singapore before SBM Offshore Services completed the final installation, using our own Normand Installer.
Demonstrating the breadth of our expertise
The Aseng project demonstrates our strength across the whole project life cycle, with SBM Offshore Production Contractors involved from the start of engineering and making key contributions from design through first oil and on into the operational phase.
FPSO Aseng – conversion and operation
Aseng was converted from a former VLCC tanker built in 1988. At 350m in length, she will operate in some 945m of water in the Aseng Field offshore Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. Equipped to the highest technological specifications she will handle around 120,000 bopd hydrocarbons a day, with capacity to store 1.7 million barrels of oil and condensate and to process around 80,000 bopd. The unit can inject 170 cu ft of natural gas to maintain pressure and sustain recovery rates.
SBM Offshore has entered into a Joint Venture with Compania Nacional de Petroleo de Guinea Ecuatorial (GEPetrol), the state oil company of Equatorial Guinea, for the ownership and operation of the Aseng unit. Under this agreement, SBM Offshore owns a 60% share of the joint venture with GEPetrol holding the remaining 40%.
Aseng will play a key role for the next 15 years or more, in a field that Noble Energy estimates will produce around 50,000 bopd with a total of 120 million barrels of hydrocarbon liquids to be recovered over the field’s probable operational lifetime.