Egina FPSO to Arrive in Nigeria
On a recent visit to South Korea to inspect the Egina FPSO project, and FPSO scheduled to arrive in Nigeria in August 2017, Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside said the ongoing construction of the multi-billion dollar Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project will increase the knowledge base of NIMASA as a safety administration and enhance its regulatory capacity.
He made the statement during a meeting with the Samsung Executive Vice President Younsang Won, Representatives of Total Nigeria and the Vice President in charge of Egina project, Yongho Jo, while visiting Samsung Heavy Industries in Geoje, South Korea. “This project is the first of its kind in Nigeria, it will increase our knowledge base of inspection techniques, certification and rules for maintaining classification and ultimately benefit the Nigerian economy in terms of foreign exchange,” said the Director General.
He also assured Total and other prospective investors that the Agency would continue to create a conducive environment for investors to be able to be confident to come up with projects of this nature.
According to the Director General, “this is a mega offshore project will bring out the best in us. Let me assure you that we will discharge our responsibility as the facilitator of maritime business in Nigeria and ensure that our maritime domain remains safe and secure for this kind of projects. We will give both Samsung and Total Nigeria necessary support to actualize the Egina FPSO project for the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.
The FPSO is being developed for deployment in the Egina oil field, located 150 km off the coast of Nigeria. The field is currently under development and production is scheduled to begin in 2018. The Egina Field when completed is expected to add 200,000 barrels per day to the National oil production by 2018.
As part of the current reforms going on in the Nigerian Maritime sector, NIMASA will take delivery of a large floating dock, which is expected to ensure vessels in need of dry dock will stay in the country.