Australian oil and gas giant, Woodside Petroleum, has announced a minor delay with its development of Senegal’s first offshore oil development, Sangomar, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Company said the pandemic has caused a delay in the construction of the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit, although the first oil from the project will still be by 2023.

The Executive Vice President of Development and Marketing for Woodside, Meg O’Neill, made this known. The VP praised the efforts of the Woodside team in managing the adverse effects of the pandemic to the supply chain, and maintaining production timelines.

O’Neill said: “We had planned that the Very Large Crude Carrier that will form the base of the FPSO would arrive at the shipyard in China in November/December. This has been delayed. The ship has just arrived and it is an essential base for execution of construction work.”

The FPSO is to be fixed at a water depth of approximately 780 metres. It will process 100,000 barrels of oil per day, 130 million cubic feet of gas per day, 145,000 barrels per day of water injection, and it will have a minimum storage capacity of 1.3 million barrels of oil.