Crude oil production in Nigeria is expected to receive a major boost with the acquisition of a new offshore floating production vessel for the Usan oil field, expected to add 180,000 b/d to Nigeria's crude output. The floating production storage offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Usan field, which is jointly operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and French oil giant Total, is expected to be delivered in March 2011.
The FPSO was ordered by Elf Petroleum Nigeria, a subsidiary of Total, in March 2008 and was built at the fabrication yard of Hyundai Heavy Industries Company in Ulsan, South Korea.
Thierry Bourgeois, Total's vice-president in charge of exploration and production, Africa division, stated that the Usan FPSO has the capacity to store 2 million barrels of oil and is the only FPSO in Nigeria to have individual cabins for 130 people. He also noted that the Usan field, which will yield 180,000 b/d at plateau production, is expected to produce for up to 25 years and will come on stream in 2012.
The Usan oil field is located around 100 km south of Port Harcourt in water depths ranging from 750 to 850 m. It will be Nigeria's fifth deep water oil field and Total's second after the Akpo field, which came on stream in March 2009.
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