Lukoil is weighing up plans for an FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel) to produce its deepwater Independence oil field offshore West Africa’s Ivory Coast.

DI understands the Russian operator, which has just confirmed success with its latest appraisal well on the field, wants to fast-track the development and enter an initial bidding process this year. The company has just confirmed its first appraisal proved oil in Turonian sands.

Discovered by the Independence 1-X well in December 2011, the field itself lies in block CI-401 in the Gulf of Guinea in a water depth of 1,689 m (5,542 ft). The appraisal well was drilled to a total depth of more than 4,499 m (14,760 ft) by the Eirik Raude semisubmersible rig. Data is being processed in order to evaluate potential resources before a decision is made on further field appraisal plans, added the company.

Previous preliminary estimates for the field have been put at around 300 MM bbl of recoverable oil, although Lukoil did not issue a figure with the latest appraisal results. Lukoil did, of course, also drill in partnership with Vanco a probe in 2010 in the same block on the Orca prospect, which also revealed signs of oil.

The operator’s next drilling activity will be an exploration well in adjacent deepwater block CI-101.

However, DI hears that Lukoil’s inhouse team first put out feelers in 2012 to the FPSO community, and has kept an FPSO as its favoured concept ever since. With an initial invitation to bid for the Independence project to potentially go out to the usual floater suspects including BW Offshore, SBM Offshore and Modec by mid-2014, another that would be in a strong position with an established relationship in place is SE Asian player Bumi Armada. The contractor late last year signed a US $262 million 10-year vessel charter contract with Lukoil for the supply of six offshore support vessels for the operator’s Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea. That was Bumi Armada’s third contract with Lukoil in the Caspian Sea alone.

Bumi’s CEO Hassan Basma said recently: “Lukoil is now in three countries in Africa, namely Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone, and they just started a major drilling programme there. We’re quite keen to continue this partnership with Lukoil. We’re hoping that they strike oil and we will be there with them.”

Hassan also said last month that Bumi is currently bidding for 12 FPSOs. That includes another offshore West Africa, Eni’s Block 15/06 East Hub project offshore Angola, where it is tipped to be the favourite.

Lukoil holds a 56.66% stake in both the CI-401 and CI-101 blocks, with PanAtlantic (ex-Vanco) owning a 28.34% stake, and state-owned Petroci 15%.

The blocks lie 30-40 km offshore the Ivory Coast in the Tano oil and gas basin, with CI-101 covering 2,403 sq km and CI-401 304 sq km, respectively. Water depths range from just 100 m (328 ft) to more than 2,500 m (8,202 ft).

Lukoil entered into a PSA for the exploration, appraisal, development and production of the blocks back in 2006.

Offshore