UK’s Ophir Energy has signed the Umbrella Agreement for the Fortuna FLNG project in Equatorial Guinea, completing another milestone with the award of the Midstream construction contracts.
A statement released early May by Ophir said Golar LNG has executed amended and novated agreements for conversion of the 126,000m3 LNG carrier Gandria to a floating liquefaction facility (“FLNG”). 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 upon reaching the planned Final Investment Decision (FID) in mid-2017. The statement noted that Equatorial Guinea has the right to acquire up to 30 percent of the vessel.
The award of the Midstream EPC contracts completes another milestone required for FID. At this point three external milestones remain: (i) the award of the Upstream EPCIC contracts (ii) the completion of the debt facility and (iii) the award of LNG offtake. With respect to these milestones:
(i) The award of the EPCIC contract is on schedule
(ii) 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.
(iii) 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.’