GE Oil & Gas has completed the first refurbishment of subsea production trees at its service base in Onne, Nigeria. The milestone was achieved under a contract awarded by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo.).

The GE team of Nigerian engineers dis-assembled the subsea trees to component parts before repairing and rebuilding them in accordance with customer requirements. The refurbishment program includes incoming deck-testing and an integrated performance test after refurbishment, the company explained.

The milestone was disclosed by Uzo Nwagwu, Chief Operating Officer of GE Oil & Gas in Nigeria. It is the first time a production tree has been completely refurbished in Nigeria.

Nwagwu said: “The development demonstrates GE’s commitment to localizing operations in Nigeria through capacity development, technology transfer and capital investment. This is resulting in the creation of high quality employment in the O&G sector in Nigeria.”

More than $1.5 million was spent with Nigerian sub-suppliers supporting various parts of the workscope for each tree.

Lazarus Angbazo, President and CEO of GE Nigeria said: “GE Oil & Gas is continuously seeking to increase the competitiveness of the solutions for the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The Tree Refurbishment Program will give Nigeria-based operators the opportunity to buy locally, avoid delivery delays and save cost while supporting the growth of the Nigerian oil and gas
industry.”

“The delivery of the first fully refurbished subsea tree system in Nigeria is another example of how we can deploy partnerships to strengthen local capacity in the country’s subsea oil and gas sector,” said SNEPCo Managing Director, Tony Attah. He added: “We’re indeed pleased to be part of this pioneering effort which promises to deliver projects on time, safely and
within cost estimates.”