The Floating Production Storage and Offloading FPSO vessel named EMEM, successfully carried out sea trials, and was getting ready to sail out of Dubai to Nigerian waters after the ceasefire between America and Iran, then the truce was upended again, and he hostilities ratcheted up.
In the event, EMEM has remained stuck.
The vessel is to serve as production platform for Oriental Resources operated Okwok Field, but it had not been able to leave the Drydocks World Dubai shipyard in Dubai, UAE Dubai (where it was repurposed for FPSO function) because of the logjam on the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway which was sealed as a result of the Iran-American war. The vessel, formerly known as the Nordic Mistral, is now a fully integrated FPSO with a storage capacity of 1Million barrels. Development drilling is ongoing on the Okwok field in Nigeria, with first oil now unlikely before October 2026.
Even before this hold up, Okwok field’s route to first oil had suffered significant delays. Recent timelines have included sailing to Nigerian waters, for hook up on the field beginning February 2025, with first oil is expected by July 1, 2025. That didn’t happen. Then in November 2025, Gbenga Komolafe, then Commission Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), visited the Dockyard where the construction was going on in Dubai, “ahead of final voyage to Nigeria”. The fact that the vessel has been held up is an indication it did not leave Dubai waters until February 28, 2026, when the Iran American war started. EMEM is 40,000Barrels Per Day (BOPD) capacity facility,. Okwok field is expected to deliver 30,000BOPD at peak.
