Golar to convert second LNG carrier to floating liquefaction
Golar LNG Ltd. will convert the 125,000-cu m LNG carrier Golar Gimi to a floating liquefaction vessel (FLNGV). Singapore’s Keppel Shipyard Ltd. will perform the conversion, with Black & Veatch subcontracted to provide its licensed Prico technology, perform detailed engineering and process design, specify and procure topside equipment, and provide commissioning support for the FLNGV topsides and liquefaction process. Golar in July 2014 completed similar agreements for conversion of the Golar Hilli.
Long-lead orders for primary equipment including gas turbines and cold boxes also were released. Golar expects to deliver Gimi to Keppel as early as next quarter and conversion to be completed and delivered in roughly 33 months. Golar can opt out of the conversion contract before November.
Golar described the Gimi FLNGV conversion along with the Hilli conversion agreement and a December heads-of-agreement (HOA) to station that vessel as a component of a floating LNG (FLNG) export project in Cameroon as part of its plans to become the leading integrated midstream LNG services provider.
The Cameroon HOA with Societe Nationale de Hydrocarbures (SNH) and Perenco Cameroon covers development of an FLNG project 20 km off the coast premised on allocating 500 bcf of natural gas reserves from the fields offshore Kribi, Cameroon, exported via Hilli FLNGV. Golar will provide the liquefaction equipment and services under a tolling agreement to SNH and Perenco as owners of the upstream joint venture, also intended to produce LPG for the local market.
Perenco delivers current gas production in the area to an onshore processing plant at Kribi for subsequent shipment by SNH to the 216-Mw Kribi electric power plant.
Golar expects the allocated reserves to produce at 1.2 million tonnes/year of LNG for about 8 years and that definitive commercial arrangements will be reached in this year’s first half to hit a first-production target of first-half 2017. The company describes the development as the first FLNG export project in Africa.
Christopher E. Smith | Editor in Chief
Christopher brings 27 years of experience in a variety of oil and gas industry analysis and reporting roles to his work as Editor-in-Chief, specializing for the last 15 of them in midstream and transportation sectors.