By Yemie Adeoye
MOBIL Producing     Nigeria (MPN) a subsidiary of Exxonmobil and one of the major upstream operators in the Nigerian oil and gas industry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Acergy, an oil serving firm for the revamping of three of its well-heads platforms offshore Nigeria in water depths of about 35 meters.
The contract which is valued at about 190 million dollars is said to also include an option exercisable by MPN for up to five further platforms.

Engineering and offshore work is expected to commence immediately, using the Acergy Orion, while engineering support will be provided in Nigeria by Global Oceon Engineers Nigeria Limited, the joint venture with Petrolog Engineering Services Ltd.

Acergy’s Chief Operating Officer Bruno Chabas noted that this contract award further reenforces Acergy’s strong presence in the upgrade and maintenance of conventional field developments in West Africa.”We are delighted to have been awarded this contract from MPN, with whom Acergy has a long history of performing similar work. It provides an excellent opportunity to leverage our strong local engineering and project management skills with Oceon providing engineering support.”

Acergy also announced recently the award of a contract from Angola LNG Limited for  development of the nearshore/onshore segment of the pipeline network required for  transportation of gas from Blocks 0, 14, 15, 17 and 18 to Angola LNG’s plant in Soyo, Angola. Angola LNG Limited’s shareholders are affiliates of Chevron, Sonangol, BP, Total and ENI. The contract awarded to a consortium of Acergy S.A. and Spiecapag, a subsidiary of Entrepose Contracting, is for $550 million, of which Acergy’s share represents approximately $250 million.

Acergy’s nearshore scope includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of approximately 50km of pipeline from Blocks 0, 14, 15, 17 and 18. It also includes the shore approach and above water tie_ins for these pipelines, together with the offshore crossing and hydrotesting. Engineering will commence with immediate effect with offshore installation scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2009, using Acergy Hawk, Acergy Legend and Acergy Polaris.

Olivier Carre, Vice President Acergy Africa and Mediterranean, said, “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract which represents an important development in Angola’s plans to reduce flaring from deep water blocks through the production of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and condensate. This contract award also re_enforces Acergy’s strong presence in West Africa.”