Total’s Egina N51bn project begins

With quay length of approximately 520 metres, depth of 13.5 metres and heavy lifting area of 5,000 metric tonnes, it is designed to become Africa’s largest vessel fabrication and integration facility and create 50,000 new jobs in Nigeria.
The facility, which is the first fabrication and integration yard in Africa, has a total area of 121,000 square metres, consisting of an assembling area, a painting shop, utility and warehouse area with a production capacity of 10, 000 metric tonnes.
On completion by October 2016, the facility will be capable of fabricating 1,000 tonnes per month and integrate the Egina FPSO and other FPSO projects expected to be undertaken in the country.
The Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, represented by the Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Engr. Jonathan Okeh, at the event, stated: “We are happy at this ground breaking ceremony which is the beginning of the journey to full completion of the mega-fabrication and integration yard at LADOL.  This is a major milestone in our drive towards building capacity which will be a big boost and will be of benefit to the upcoming deepwater development projects.
“With the initial hitches in progressing this development now gone, it is our hope that the yard construction work will continue as planned to enable the delivery of the Egina FPSO project as scheduled and have the first FPSO integration done at this mega-facility in Nigeria as well as to commence a new era of it being a hub for the entire Africa region.”
Expressing satisfaction that the project has finally commenced as originally planned, the minister said the facility, which she described as a huge local content milestone, would generate 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in Nigeria.
Managing Director of LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi said: “We have been developing the facility for 13 years and the ground-breaking today is a real watershed moment. I am particularly proud to witness the significant milestone in the realisation of my father’s vision to create a wholly Nigerian facility that will be a platform from which thousands of jobs will be created in real local content.”