Sarens participates in construction of new Nkuku Ikong Field Development Project – EnviroNews

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Nigeria’s offshore energy sector continues to expand with the Nkuku Ikong Field Development Project, a new development in Akwa Ibom State, combining two separate hydrocarbon discoveries awarded by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). The fields contain high-quality light crude oil alongside significant associated natural gas reserves, with potential for future commercial exploitation and reduced flaring during extraction.

Designed with a useful life of 30 years and an availability rate of 94%, the project will include a Mobile Offshore Production Unit, a Wellhead Drilling Template, and a 17-km export pipeline connecting to the Odudu field.

Sarens, through its subsidiary Sarens Buildwell, played a key role in the project by transporting a 330-ton jacket to the barge in Warri, Delta State, using 40 axle lines of SPMTs, coordinating the operation against live weather conditions, tidal planning, and barge ballasting requirements.

This project adds to a growing portfolio of complex energy logistics in Nigeria, which includes the transport of critical equipment for the Utorogu gas plant, oversized tanks for the Dangote petroleum refinery in Lagos, and the installation of two 150-ton HRSG modules for the Indorama fertiliser plant expansion in Eleme in 2026.

As a preliminary step to this project, Sarens’ engineering team, in collaboration with its client EK One Global, conducted a site survey to validate the solutions to be implemented. It was then decided to use 2×20-axle-line SPMTs (40 lines total) to expedite transport; these were transported by road to the job site. The 330-ton jacket had to be jacked up using the SPMTs and crawled to be loaded onto the barge responsible for its final transport. All of this had to be done while accounting for the prevailing weather conditions, including rain, and the need to coordinate the barge’s operations with the predicted tides, ballasting system and coordination with the marine team.

This development will consist of a Wellhead Drilling Template, a Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU), and a 17-km export pipeline from the Nkuku/Ikong field to the Odudu field. A Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) unit will be used exclusively. The MOPU will contain processing equipment and accommodation modules (UQ) for production operations personnel.

The MOPU’s process facilities section will consist of an integrated deck housing a single three-phase separation train (gas/oil/water), produced water treatment, seawater treatment, gas compression facilities, a flare tower/flare stack, and a drilling rig/wellhead with 8 slots for both production and injection wells. The MOPU’s living quarters (UQ) section will consist of an integrated deck housing utilities, cabins, lifeboats, the helipad, power generation, and the escape structure.

Oil meeting export quality specifications will be transported via a 6-inch jumper hose to the FSO. Produced gas will be used for gas lift systems and injections to optimise oil recovery, as well as for use during the field’s end-of-life phase. The client may identify future opportunities for gas monetisation, and options for excess gas, if available, will also be explored. To maintain field production, water injection and gas lift facilities will be utilised. The required design life for the Nkuku/Ikong MOPU will be 30 years from the initial installation of the support structures and topside.

According to Mohammed Kamal, Operations Manager at Sarens Buildwell, “Our company’s experience in executing projects of this scale and our ability to provide the necessary equipment at the right time have been key factors in ensuring our client’s satisfaction. We thank EK One Global for their trust in us, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the near future.”

Sarens Buildwell Nigeria has solidified its position in Nigeria’s energy and oil sector through the execution of complex logistics and industrial projects. Notable among these are the successful transport and delivery of large-volume critical equipment for the Utorogu gas plant in 2024, the transport of 78-ton oversized tanks for the Dangote Petroleum refinery in Lagos, and the recent hoisting and installation in 2026 of two heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) modules weighing over 150 tons for the Train III expansion project at the Indorama fertiliser plant in Eleme, thereby strengthening the region’s energy infrastructure.