05 March 2013, Lagos – Lagos-based Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base, LADOL, says it is set to commence the construction of a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, FPSO.
The company’s Executive Chairman, Oladipo Jadesimi, disclosed this, saying the company had been putting in place the necessary facilities for the integration of the FSPO.
The company is partnering Samsung Heavy Industries for the development of the FPSO and the construction of a technology institutein Lagos, to be called Samsung Nigeria Technology Academy (SaNTA).
The institute is expected to impart the requisit technology and skills in various aspects of the oil and gas operations on Nigerians, Jadesimi said.
“On the construction of the FPSO. We have gone far. We are now preparing to invest in the facilities that will be required for the integration of the FPSO.”
He also dismissed fears over the draft of the LADOL free zone considering the massive size of an FPSO.
He said the water depth of zone is deep enough. “As you know, the FPSO is a very large vessel and the channel is deep enough to accommodate the safe inward and outward passage. Before you embark on any project, you will do thorough investigation into all technical aspects that have to do with safe operation,” he stated.
According to him, the projects have a lot of prospects, contrary to what some stakeholders believe. He explained that when the promoters of LADOL embarked on the project some 10 years ago, their target market was not just Nigerian waters.
“It is clear that the whole of the West African sub-region was and still highly prospective in oil and gas, which means that there is very high likelihood of discoveries”, he said, adding that the assumed prospects have been proved right with the discoveries in Ghana, Sierra-Leone and Liberia.
He added: “These are all offshore discoveries and all of them will require facilities that we are preparing to execute for the whole region because the discoveries are all offshore and as you know, our specialty and focus is solely on the offshore.
“Expenses on the onshore are all taken care of and our focus is in the offshore part of the project.”