300-meter-long FPSO comes to Türkiye: Twofold increase in Black Sea gas production on the horizon (Photo)

With energy security at the forefront, Türkiye, which is determined to diversify its supplies and lower its dependence on imports through homegrown energy, has welcomed the arrival of its first-ever floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is the same size as three standard football fields put together and will double the gas production from the country’s giant deepwater gas field in the Black Sea, once the unit kicks off its 20-year assignment in 2026.

Given the growing belief that natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are a perfect fit to bridge the energy transition gap by addressing rising power demands alongside decarbonization trends, Türkiye made several strategic moves to shore up power supplies by acquiring a floating production unit (FPU) last year and inking a string of ten-year LNG deals recently with ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies.

In addition, the country’s BOTAŞ petroleum pipeline corporation struck a deal with India’s Swan Energy in August 2024 to buy its stake in a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for $399 million paid in tranches, after the duo penned a lease agreement last year for the 180,000 m3 FSRU Vasant One, built by Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and delivered to the Indian player in 2020 for use as part of an LNG import terminal project in Gujarat, which run into several logistical challenges.

While Swan’s subsidiary, Triumph Offshore, has a 51% stake in the FSRU, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) holds the remaining stake. BOTAŞ’ acquisition of the FSRU is part of its previously announced plans to set up a regional LNG bunkering hub to capitalize on Türkiye’s geographical position, which presents it with the opportunity to become an energy hub between Middle Eastern suppliers and their European customers.

After setting off from Singapore in July 2024, the country’s new FPSO, acquired from BW Offshore and destined to be deployed at the Sakarya gas field in the Black Sea for 20 years, reached Çanakkale onboard the Vanguard semi-submersible heavy transport vessel owned by Boskalis, a Dutch offshore services giant, following a 51-day journey. Upon the vessel’s arrival, Alparslan Bayraktar, Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, inspected the central control room.

Bayraktar highlighted: “We will take the gas from the seabed. We will do these processes here and then connect it to BOTAŞ’s line on land, approximately 180 kilometers away. We are witnessing one of the firsts today. Because this facility will be our production base at sea. It will bring us to a point where we meet almost 15 percent of our country’s needs.”

At the end of last month, BW Offshore confirmed the completion of the front-end engineering design (FEED) work and early engineering work related to the Sakarya redeployment project, which brought the firm an EBITDA contribution of about $7 million in the second quarter of 2024 with a further $10 million expected to be recognized in the third quarter.

BW Offshore also emphasized that Sakarya was set to progress as a local-content-oriented project in Türkiye with limited scope for the company to provide further value-added services. The FPSO, which the country’s state-owned energy player bought last year, is the FPSO BW Opportunity, former FPSO Cidade de Sao Mateus, and will be used to implement the second phase of the Sakarya gas field in the Black Sea.

While announcing the sale of the FPSO BW Opportunity for a total consideration of $125 million, BW Offshore said it was exploring the commercial principles for the provision of engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a five-year transitional period with the buyer.

The FPSO BW Opportunity was converted in 2007. This vessel has an oil processing capacity of 35,000 bbl/d, a gas handling capacity of 350 mmscfd, a water injection capacity of 31,500 bbl/d, and a storage capacity of 900,000 bbl.

Marco Beenen, CEO of BW Offshore, who previously stated that the sale of BW Opportunity and the subsequent potential EPCC contract of the floating production solution for large gas development in the Black Sea signified a substantial achievement and aligned seamlessly with the firm’s strategic objectives, recently noted: “We are selectively progressing several potential FPSO projects in a very active market and the Sakarya FEED shows that that we can create material value in preparatory phases, even if a final contract does not materialise.”

Türkiye Petrolleri A.O. (TPAO) has confirmed that the FPSO will move to the gas field in the Black Sea for other preparations after the technical ones are completed in Çanakkale and the activation work in Filyos. The FPSO is scheduled to begin its job at the Sakarya gas field in 2026 approximately 170 kilometers offshore, as Türkiye’s production base at sea.

The second phase of Sakarya is anticipated to meet nearly 30% of the country’s gas requirements by 2030 based on the information provided by Ashley Sherman, Wood Mackenzie‘s Upstream Research Director for Caspian and Europe. The huge natural gas project, which achieved its first gas on April 20, 2023, is often described as one of the largest energy projects ever built in Türkiye.

“The facility, which will process 10 million cubic meters of natural gas per day and transmit it to the grid, will double the production in the Sakarya gas field and meet the natural gas needs of an additional 4.4 million households on its own,” emphasized Bayraktar.

Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources explains that the country is set to produce enough natural gas for approximately 9 million households in 2026. Bayraktar further elaborates that the production base, which is around the size of three football fields or 300 meters long, 56 meters wide, and 58 meters high, will be fixed 20 meters below the seabed with 20 special anchors at the duty station.

Once online, approximately 140 personnel are expected to work at the FPSO, while 165 people in total, including the team on land, will work 24/7 in the operation stage. No name has been given to the unit yet, as suggestions are still being considered.

“Ultimately, we will evaluate these and present them to our President. We will send this facility off to its place of duty with a name befitting its size and magnificence,” underlined Bayraktar, who confirmed plans to undertake further exploration drilling activities in the Black Sea this year to boost gas production levels.

Based on the development sequence of the Sakarya gas field, the project involves Stage 1 focused on establishing land and sea facilities for the initial output peak from the first ten wells at the field, and Stage 2, which deals with the onshore and offshore infrastructure components alongside the floating systems required to reach an additional daily 30 million standard cubic meters of production capacity from Stage 2a covering ten wells with an FPU and Stage 2b with 16 wells and an FPU.

The EPCI contracts for the two segments of the second phase of the Sakarya field development, utilizing an FPU-based approach, were planned to be awarded to up the production ante by 30 million standard cubic meters of gas per day, requiring the drilling of 26 more wells and resulting in both stages combined yielding an overall gas output capacity of 40 million standard cubic meters per day from 36 wells in total, refined and transported to Filyos as processed gas.

Turkish Petroleum (TP) hired a consortium consisting of SLB, Subsea7, and Saipem on an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation contract in May 2023 for the second planned development phase of the Sakarya gas field, consisting of subsea production systems (SPS) and subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF).

The project execution will be overseen by Saipem and Subsea Integration Alliance, which was formed by OneSubsea – the subsea technologies, production, and processing systems business of SLB and Subsea7. To unlock the value of the country’s largest gas reserves pile, the completion of Phase 2 is currently on the agenda for 2028, unleashing more energy with 30% of Türkiye’s natural gas needs being met by the Sakarya field.

Subsea7 got hold of a separate contract in the range of $300 and $500 million with the Turkish Petroleum Offshore Technology Center (TP-OTC) in May 2024 for the Sakarya gas field development Phase 2, allowing it to handle the installation of Türkiye’s first floating production unit as part of the second development phase.

The firm will handle the installation and integration of risers, umbilicals, hook-ups, and mooring systems with the FPU. Project management and engineering activities will be conducted from Subsea7’s office in Istanbul, Türkiye.

In addition, Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources reveals that the Oruç Reis seismic research vessel will soon be sent to Somalia, adding: “Oruç Reis will conduct 3D seismic studies in a 15,000 square kilometer license area given to Turkish Petroleum.”