Shell HI OML 144 Platforms

Shell HI OML 144 platforms is on its way to first oil.

The international oil company (IOC) Shell and the Nigerian independent company Sunlink Petroleum Limited (Sunlink) are willing to proceed on fast-track to develop shallow water HI offshore project in Nigeria.
Located in the OML 144 Block, the gas field HI is estimated to hold:

1.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas
15 million barrels of condensates

144 Platforms History

The working interest in the OML Block are shared between:

Shell 60% is the operator
Sunlink 40%
In respect with HI potential, Shell and Sunlink are targeting to produce:
500 million cubic feet per day (cf/d) of gas
70,000 barrels of condensates per day

Shell and Sunlink are still working on the conceptual study.
Among the multiple options still on the table, a set of bridge-linked platforms is the preferred one, but Shell and Sunlink are still open for alternative solutions for example in a floating, storage production and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
In this perspective, Shell will awarded several pre front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) contracts out of which one or two will be converted into FEED contracts.

To do so, Shell and Sunlink qualified:
– Aker Solutions from Norway
– China Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation (COOEC) from China
– CIMC from Malaysia
– McDermott from USA
– Saipem from Italy
– Samsung Heavy Industries from South Korea
– TechnipFMC from UK
The offshore infrastructure should be designed to support five wellheads and to pipe the gas to the future Nigeria LNG Train 7 project.
For the EPC contract, the engineering companies may proceed on their own or to involve contractors having shipyard in Nigeria such as:
– Bluewater
– Bumi Armada
– Yinson
The base case concept includes:
– Bridge-linked processing, drilling and accommodation platforms
– Gas pipeline to shore through a new 30-kilometer, 20-inch tie-back to Shell’s Offshore Gas Gathering System (OGGS).
– Condensates to be exported through a converted FPSO.
The gas central processing platform (CPP) should support 10,000 tonnes topsides with the option to add the living quarters.
The converted FPSO should be able to store 750,000 barrels of condensates.
The combination of the platforms and the FPSO are offering several opportunities and constraints to the bidders regarding the local content obligations to be considered for the project.
Assuming the pre-FEED and FEED work to be completed in 2019, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract should be awarded by the conversion of one of the FEED contract in 2020 in expecting the commercial operations in 2025.

— December 2020 —
Project on hold in a context where Shell is already becoming very cautious on its upstream investment and even more in Nigeria.

— June 2021 —
Shell, as more and more companies, is giving priority on the pre-FEED and FEED on this project in order to explore all possible ways to cut the project cost.
In that respect it organized a competitive FEED between:
– Saipem from Italy
– Desicon Engineering Ltd from Nigeria with Sapura Energy from Malaysia and Samsung Engineering & Construction from South Korea
This competitive FEED should be soon completed, proposing:
– Bridge-linked processing, drilling and accommodation platforms
– Tie-back to shore through a new 30-kilometre, 20-inch pipeline to Shell Offshore Gas Gathering System (OGGS)
– FSO to treat the liquids.
Saipem is reported as taking a leading position.
Shell is expected to take final investment decision (FID) later this year and convert Saipem FEED contract into EPCI.

— December 2022 —
Project still at design phase as Shell is reevaluating its position in Nigeria.

— December 2023 —
Project still on hold. Shell is denying to leave Nigeria because of legal issues after pollution on its attacked assets.
But as long as this legal issue is not sorted out with local authorities the project has little chance to move.

— October 2024 —
Shell is still working on the FEED of the project balancing infrastructures offshore and onshore.
This FEED adjustment should be completed in 2025, allowing Shell to make the FID.

— March 2025 —
Shell awarded the EPC to COOEC which should start it very soon.