Aberdeen’s role as a strategic base for companies operating beyond the North Sea was highlighted yesterday as Altera Infrastructure detailed how its UK capabilities are supporting major offshore developments in Africa.

Speaking at the Wider African Energy Summit – hosted in partnership with the African Energy Chamber – this week, Stig Bøtker, Director of Business Development at Altera Infrastructure, said the company increasingly relies on Aberdeen as a center of expertise that directly underpins its work on fast-growing African projects. “Aberdeen is a strategic base for Altera’s operations,” he said, noting that the city’s technical depth and offshore heritage have been instrumental in driving recent successes.

Bøtker pointed to the FPSO Petrojarl Kong, currently operating at the Baleine Field offshore Ivory Coast, as a leading example of how these competencies are being leveraged abroad. The project was completed on a fast-track schedule, with redevelopment beginning in late 2022 and first oil achieved in December 2024 – an overall timeline of just 24 months. The FPSO is producing 40,000 barrels of oil per day along with 44 million standard cubic feet per day of gas, which is supplied to an onshore power plant to deliver affordable and stable energy to the region.

Altera also secured $464 million in post-delivery financing for the Petrojarl Kong FPSO through a U.S. private placement, marking one of the first transactions of this kind for a West African offshore project. The company hopes this success will pave the way for continued activity in Ivory Coast, with Bøtker saying, “We hope to get more projects in Ivory Coast.”

Local content has been a core focus for the company, which has achieved 85% Ivorian employment onshore and 46% offshore. This has been driven by training programs in the shipyard, partnerships with educational institutions and hands-on development on existing FPSOs. “It’s about strengthening local suppliers, promoting transparency, getting local suppliers to understand how we operate and our core values,” Bøtker said, adding that building Ivorian-led capabilities remains a priority. “It’s important for us to continue developing people.”

Bøtker also noted that Altera is transferring emissions-reduction technologies to the region, several of which are already deployed on the Petrojarl Kong. He said the company aims to supply as much as possible locally, linking technical delivery with long-term capacity building.