Golar LNG's deal to develop the Delfin gas field off the US is a "potential game-changer" for the company, one analyst believes.
Wells Fargo Securities said: "We view it as a significant positive. However we'll continue to proceed cautiously as a number of forward dynamics still need to fall into place."
Golar signed a deal with Delfin Midstream on Wednesday to provide up to four FLNG units for the project off the coast of Louisiana, which will produce up to 13m tonnes of LNG per year from 2021 or 2022.
"This could be the large scale project we've long thought Golar would need in order to eventually get any forward value from the market," Wells Fargo said.
Details are limited, it added, but it is expecting Golar's first preference to be broader equity participation as a direct stakeholder.
The analyst said it does not appear as if its OneLNG partner Schlumberger is involved at the moment. Golar formed the venture last summer for FLNG business.
"Over the past several months Golar has implied or noted that it's OneLNG JV with Schlumberger would be involved in all FLNG projects, except those in the US Gulf," Wells Fargo said.
It believes its partner's involvement would help from a financing perspective, "but Golar doing this on their own wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing in terms of an eventual roll-up thesis."
