Ahmeyim

Project Overview

• The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project involves the development of two main gas fields: the Tortue field in Mauritania and the Ahmeyim field in Senegal.

Location

• The Ahmeyim field is situated in the Saint Louis Offshore Profond block, offshore Senegal, at coordinates 16.123, -17.629 (WGS 84).

Ownership and Operator

• The project is jointly developed by BP, Kosmos Energy, Societe des Petroles du Senegal (Petrosen), and Societe Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures (SMHPM). BP serves as the operator.
• The ownership structure for the Saint-Louis Offshore Profond block is: BP (60%), Kosmos Energy (30%), and Petronas (10%).

Discovery and Development

• The Ahmeyim field was discovered by the Ahmeyim-2 well in 2016, which was drilled to a depth of 5.2 km and encountered 78 meters of net gas pay.
• The project's development was facilitated by an inter-government co-operation agreement signed by Mauritania and Senegal in February 2018, designating the GTA project as a 'National Project of Strategic Importance' in July 2021.

Reserves

• The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim field complex, including both the Tortue and Ahmeyim fields, is estimated to contain approximately 15 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable gas reserves.

Infrastructure and Production

• The initial phase of the project involves an ultra-deepwater subsea production system with four gas production wells tied back to a mid-water floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The FPSO will process the gas, removing heavier hydrocarbon components, and the processed gas will be transferred via a subsea pipeline to a nearshore floating LNG (FLNG) facility.
• The FPSO, built at the COSCO Qidong Shipyard in China, is capable of processing up to 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day and will accommodate up to 140 workers during normal operations.
• The FLNG facility, converted from the Gimi LNG carrier at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, will be located approximately 10 km offshore and is designed to produce 2.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG in phase one. BP has a 20-year lease and operate agreement for the FLNG unit.

Production Schedule

• The final investment decision (FID) for phase one was taken in December 2018. Commercial production is expected to start in the last quarter of 2023.

Phase Two Development

• In addition to the initial phase, BP and its partners announced the development concept for phase two of the offshore LNG project in February 2023, which is expected to produce up to 3 mtpa of LNG upon commissioning.

Logistics and Local Impact

• The project has required significant logistics support, including the transportation of the FPSO from China and the installation of subsea pipelines and infrastructure. BP has also focused on local workforce development, creating a national technician training program to support the project’s buildout and operations.

Environmental and Technical Challenges

• The project involves some of the deepest subsea developments in Africa, with water depths of up to 2,850 meters. The FPSO and FLNG facilities are designed to handle these extreme conditions, and the project has overcome various technical and logistical challenges, including battling typhoons during transportation.

In summary, the Ahmeyim Oil and Gas Field, as part of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, represents a major energy development in West Africa, characterized by its complex infrastructure, significant gas reserves, and collaborative international cooperation.