BW Offshore gets rid of yet another FPSO

Andreas Sohmen-Pao’s BW Offshore has sold another African-based floating production storage and production (FPSO) vessel with just one more remaining on the continent.

BW Group’s FPSO provider said that it wrapped up the sale of the Sendje Berge FPSO to “a local owner and operator” for a total consideration of $15m.

The Sendje Berge was built in 1974 and has a carrying capacity of 274,333 dwt and a reported draught of 13.7 meters. It also has an oil processing capacity of 50,000 bbl per day. According to the company, the buyer has assumed responsibility for the operations of the vessel.

It has been working on the Okwori field for 18 years, since the field started operations in April 2005. The field is in the OML 126 shallow water block in the Niger Delta, some 80 km southwest of the city of Port Harcourt. Addax is the operator of the field, which was developed via subsea wells tied back to the BW Offshore-leased unit.

Even though BW Offshore did not name the buyer of the FPSO, African media reported that the vessel was bought by the Century Group led by Nigerian businessman Ken Etete. Century has now added Sendje Berge to the two FPSOs it already owns and operates.

Following this latest sale, BW Offshore sold all but one of its FPSOs located in Africa. It offloaded its BW Opportunity FPSO in March, the FPSO BW Athena a month later, and the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien in June.

The only unit still working on the continent is the FPSO Abo which recently got a contract extension until July 31, 2023. The FPSO has been operating on the Abo field since the beginning of production in 2003.