Fortuna FLNG construction contract awarded

May 10, 2017

Following last week’s umbrella agreement for the Fortuna FLNG project off Equatorial Guinea, a construction contract has been awarded for conversion of an LNG carrier to a floating liquefaction facility (FLNG).

Ophir Energy informed on Wednesday that Golar LNG Limited has executed amended and novated agreements for conversion of the 126,000m3 LNG carrier Gandria.

Ophir further said that the primary contract for the FLNG Gandria was entered into with Singapore’s Keppel Shipyard Limited. Black & Veatch will provide its licensed PRICO technology, perform detailed engineering and process design, specify and procure topside equipment, and provide commissioning support for the FLNG topsides and liquefaction process.

The Gandria vessel will be acquired by the Fortuna Joint Operating Company (JOC) upon reaching the planned Final Investment Decision (FID) in mid-2017. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea has the right to acquire up to 30% of the vessel.

OneLNG, a joint venture between Golar and Schlumberger, and Ophir have 66.2% and 33.8% ownership of the JOC, respectively.

The award of the Midstream EPC contracts completes another milestone required for FID. At this point three external milestones remain: the award of the Upstream EPCIC contracts; the completion of the debt facility; and the award of LNG offtake.

According to the company, the award of the EPCIC contract is on schedule and term sheets have been agreed with a consortium of China-based lenders. The counter-parties to the financing have now entered into final documentation stage. Also, the Fortuna partners will determine in May the structure and amount of the expected 2.5MMTPA to place under contract at FID. An award of offtake will be made from the shortlist of attractive proposals from high quality counterparties.

Nick Cooper, CEO of Ophir Energy commented: “The award of the Midstream construction completes another milestone as we approach FID. We remain firmly on schedule for the FID of Africa’s first deep water FLNG Project in mid-2017.”