The FPSO Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, which will produce and store oil from Ghana’s Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) offshore oil fields, began its voyage to Ghana on 23rd January 2016.

The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which was officially named in memory of the late President Atta Mills, has been under construction in Singapore since October 2013.

A statement from Tullow Oil said the departure of the vessel on schedule indicates an important milestone for the TEN Project, which is now over 80% complete and remains on track to start producing oil in July or August 2016.

The vessel departed the Tuas shipyard in Singapore at 2.00pm and sailed into the Malacca Strait. Her voyage to Ghana will see her sail westward across the Indian Ocean before rounding the southern tip of Africa and sailing up the West African coast.

The FPSO is expected to arrive in Ghanaian waters in early March, where she will be stationed above the TEN fields, around 60 kilometres from the coast of Ghana’s Western Region.

Upon her arrival, the FPSO will be attached to nine anchor piles which will maintain her position above the oil fields. These 21 metre high steel cylinders were built in Ghana by Group Five Construction Ghana Ltd. They were completed on time and are already installed in the seabed, awaiting the arrival of the FPSO.

Other Ghanaian contributions to the FPSO include her module support stools, which sit on the deck and support heavy equipment. These were fabricated by Ghanaian companies Seaweld Engineering Ltd and Orsam Ltd.

The FPSO has a nominal production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil per day and a storage capacity of 1.7 million barrels. She is 350 metres long and can accommodate 120 people.

Managing Director of Tullow Ghana Ltd, Charles Darku commented: “We are delighted that the TEN FPSO has departed Singapore on schedule, keeping us on track to achieve our first oil target of July - August 2016.”

The development of the TEN fields is being led by Tullow Oil along with its partners the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Kosmos Energy, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Petro SA.

The construction of the FPSO has been led by global supplier and operator of offshore floating platforms, MODEC Inc. The FPSO will be operated and maintained by MODEC Ghana Ltd.

The TEN fields (Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme) lie in the deep-water of Tano block, around sixty kilometres offshore Ghana. The reservoirs are spread over 800 square kilometers, and lie in water depths of between 1,000 and 1,800 metres. Development of the TEN Project is being led by Tullow Oil, with partners Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, Kosmos Energy LLC, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and PetroSA.

The TEN Development Plan was approved by the Government of Ghana in May 2013 and requires the drilling and completion of up to 24 development wells. These will be connected through subsea infrastructure to a Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel currently under construction in Singapore.

First oil from the TEN fields is scheduled for July – August 2016, and the nominal production capacity of the FPSO is 80,000 barrels of oil per day.