Cameroon is set to bring the worlds latest FLNG vessel into service with Golars Hilli Episeyo slated to commence operations in late 2017
It is expected that Shell's Prelude vessel, located off the coast of Western Australia, will follow in 2018.
Hilli Episeyo, a converted LNG carrier, will operate from Cameroon's offshore Kribi field, providing storage, liquefaction and offloading services. This has been made possible via a tolling agreement between Cameroon's national oil and gas company, Société Nationale des Hydrocabures and Perenco Cameroon as joint venture partners. It is expected that the facility will produce gas reserves at a rate of 1.2 MTPA over a period of around eight years.
To date, around 4,500 contractors have worked on the project. Testing and pre-commissioning is taking place and the vessel is scheduled for redelivery in May with a view to starting production by the end of September 2017. As well as being used to exploit gas in the Kribi field, the government has expressed an interest in opportunities for it to be used in neighbouring offshore fields, such as the Fortuna Field off the coast of Equatorial Guinea.
