Golar FLNG Project Cleared

The final investment decision has been made on Cameroon’s floating LNG (FLNG) project that will use Golar LNG’s Hilli carrier.

The agreement between Cameroon’s state-owned oil and gas company Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH), Golar LNG, and privately-owned French oil and gas company Perenco was reached earlier this week. This final investment decision commits the project to a targeted start date for commissioning in 2017’s second quarter.

The agreement enables Golar to draw down up $700 million from the facility to fund ongoing conversion costs. It also establishes the terms under which Golar shall provide liquefaction, storage, and off-loading services to SNH and Perenco as upstream joint venture partners.

The project is premised on the allocation of 500 bcf of natural gas reserves from offshore Kribi fields which will be exported to global markets via the GoFLNG facility Golar Hilli, which is currently under construction at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.

Keppel was awarded the Hilli contract last year, and the project is a first-of-its-type conversion of a Moss LNG carrier, the Hilli, into an FLNG.  The contract also includes options for two similar units.

Golar is one of the world's largest independent owners and operators of LNG carriers, and delivered the world’s first Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) based on the conversion of LNG carriers.