FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21
Channel: Offshore, Maritime and Energy
Date: 22/05/2023

The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah is a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel that is used by Tullow Oil for their offshore oil production in Ghana. The vessel is named after Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. 

Development History
The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah was developed as part of the Jubilee oil field project, which was discovered in 2007 and began producing oil in 2010. Tullow Oil is the operator of the Jubilee field, working with partners including Kosmos Energy, Anadarko Petroleum, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and Petro SA.

Facility Specifications
The FPSO Kwame Nkrumah has the following specifications:

Processing capacity: 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
Storage capacity: Approximately 1.6 million barrels.
Gas handling capacity: 160 million cubic feet per day.
Water injection capacity: 230,000 barrels per day.
Mooring: Turret moored with ability to rotate 360 degrees.
It is equipped with processing facilities for separation and treatment of crude oil, water, and gases, arriving on board from sub-sea oil wells via flexible pipelines.

Tonnage : 151,542 GT |  76,586 NT  |  240,550 DWT
Length 358.6 m (1,177 ft)
Beam 59 m (194 ft)
Height 64.8 m (213 ft)
Draught 19.6 m (64 ft) operating.
Installed power 1,250 kW

Related News

There were several notable events related to FPSO Kwame Nkrumah up until 2021:

The FPSO suffered from technical issues in the turret bearing since 2016. It was unable to rotate as intended, leading to operational difficulties. Efforts were made to address the problem through various remediation projects.

Tullow Oil had been working on plans for a long-term solution to the turret bearing issue, which involved converting the FPSO to a permanently spread moored facility, with the vessel kept on station using mooring lines attached to the seabed, rather than a rotating turret.

In terms of production, there were periods of decreased output due to maintenance and repairs. However, the Jubilee field continued to be a significant contributor to Ghana's oil production.