Anchor Handling Tug Supply is Most Widely Used Vessel in Nigerian Offshore Oil Industry

By Favour Omokhaiye and Gloria Odunuyi

The Anchor-Handling Tug supply (AHTS) vessels constitute the largest segment of the offshore support vessel market, by type, in use by oil companies operating in Nigerian waters in the months of April and May 2020.

Nine indigenous and international oil companies working offshore utilised 150 vessels, of twenty types for various operations in the months under review.

Chevron used the largest number and the most diverse of vessel types, followed by ExxonMobil and Shell.

AHTS vessels are designed to provide anchor-handling and towage services and are also used for supplying deck cargo, water, fuel, dry bulk, and mud-to-oil rigs and platforms.

These vessels can also be used for emergencies and are well equipped for firefighting, rescue, and oil recovery operations.

But while they have high utility value, AHTS are not necessarily the most sophisticated. The Multifunctional Support Vessel, for example, has the capacity for deploying robots and divers into deep offshore, to perform field optimisation tasks in deepwater reservoirs.

Other Offshore Vessels (OSSVs) in use during the period were platform supply vessels (PSV), anchor handling tugs, utility workboat vessels, research vessels, emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV), accommodation barges, cable/umbilicals flowline lay vessels and crew boats.

Also referred as vessels are Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), Jack up drilling rigs and Self elevating Install Barge, The nine companies which utilised the 150 vessels during the months are: Addax, Amni International, Chevron, Dangote, ExxonMobil, First E&P, NPDC, Shell and TOTAL.

Omokhaiye and Odu are covering the maritime issues and the gas market for Africa Oil+Gas Report.