Ophir Energy has awarded upstream front end engineering and design (FEED) contracts to two consortia for Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in Block R offshore Equatorial Guinea
The upstream FEED process is to be a competitive one between the two consortia, the first of which is made up of McDermott Marine Construction Limited and GE Oil & Gas UK Limited while the second is comprised of Subsea 7 and Aker Solutions.
The scope of work includes subsea development design that will enable the two competing consortia to submit their engineer, procure, construct, install and commission (EPCIC) tenders at the end of FEED, on the basis of which one of them will be selected for final investment decision (FID).
Focus areas for the FEED process will be defining the number of wells required at first gas, the cost of development and delivery time of the long lead subsea items such as subsea trees. The process will be completed at the end of Q1 2016 so that the FID can be made in mid-2016 with first gas expected in 2019.
Ophir had announced in May that Golar LNG will be the midstream partner for the project. Golar LNG will build, own and operate the FLNG vessel — the Gimi.
Ophir Energy CEO Nick Cooper said, “With the appointment of Golar LNG as midstream partner and the commencement of FEED, the project has strong momentum. Ophir Energy’s focus will now switch to securing buyers for the LNG offtake and to bringing in an equity partner prior to our mid-2016 FID. Numerous potential counterparties have recently expressed interest in the offtake and partnering opportunities.”
With an additional 28.3bn cu/m of 2C resources discovered and immediately available to be developed, and a further 25.4bn cu/m of low risked prospective resource, Ophir Energy is considering contracting a second FLNG vessel to develop these unallocated resources. An investment decision for the second vessel is expected to be made once the Fortuna field has commenced production.
“The potential application of a second leased FLNG vessel in Block R is an exciting advance. This would accelerate the production of contracted resource and expand the total resources base to be commercialised. A second vessel would be synchronised with the cash flow from the initial trains, thereby minimising capex exposure to Ophir and materially increasing the Fortuna FLNG project’s overall value,” Cooper added.
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