With BW Offshore FPSO’s stay prolonged, Tullow puts all options on the table for stake in oil field off Ivory Coast

UK-headquartered oil and gas company Tullow Oil is mulling over all options for its interest in an oil field located offshore the Ivory Coast. This comes after BW Offshore secured a short-term contract extension for one of its floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, which is working at the field.

As Tullow Oil’s capital allocation strategy focuses on its highest return-producing assets to maximise cash flow, the company is in the process of considering all options for its interest in the CNR International-operated Espoir field off the Ivory Coast. With no formal commitments being made yet, Tullow confirmed that it will provide an update if this process develops further.

As part of its efforts to optimise its asset portfolio, Tullow Oil also added an additional license in the Ivory Coast in December 2022, following the inking of a new production sharing contract (PSC). This exploration license is expected to strengthen the firm’s position in the Tano Basin.

On the other hand, BW Offshore has inked a short-term extension for the lease and operation of the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien to discuss a potential purchase of the FPSO by the client. As a result, the firm period has been extended until 15 June 2023.

This FPSO has an oil production capacity of 45,000 bbl/d. The production at the Espoir field started in 2002 while the oil produced from the Espoir East and West reservoir is processed, stored, and offloaded from the FPSO located between the two wellhead towers.

The fixed contract period with CNR International was set to expire in 2022, however, the deal also contains extension options until 2036. The previous extension was signed in early June 2023.

As BW Offshore is focused on expanding the niche oil and gas segment by redeploying existing FPSOs and divesting non-core assets, the company recently inked a short-term extension with Eni for another FPSO, which is carrying out operations on a field located offshore Nigeria.