A floating LNG production unit owned by Tor Olav Troim-controlled Golar LNG has arrived on site at BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) offshore gasfield on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal.
Golar said the 2.3 million tonnes per annum FLNG Gimi, which left Singapore following its conversion at Seatrium Shipyard on 19 November, reached the site on 10 January.
The company said it has notified BP of its arrival.
But the Golar said it has agreed with BP that FLNG Gimi will now move to Tenerife in the Canary Islands where it will moor offshore while it awaits completion of “the necessary preparatory activities”.
“Following completion of all preparatory activities, FLNG Gimi will be manoeuvered to her berth at the hub and for her subsequent connection to the feed gas pipeline,” Golar said.
FLNG Gimi is Golar’s second LNG carrier-to-FLNG unit conversion.
The unit has taken longer than expected to be completed, with work also interrupted by the global pandemic, leading to disputes with BP, which also made force majeure claim in 2020.
But now it is the energy major’s timeline which has slipped with the gas pipeline to the project’s floating production storage and offloading facility not yet complete which means the FLNG unit cannot be commissioned.
However, Golar was keen to deliver the unit to site as this will kick off certain payments to the company under its charter deal with BP.
The FLNG unit owner said in 2023 that it has entered arbitration with BP over “a contract-interpretation dispute relating to parts of the pre-commissioning contractual cash flows remains”.
Golar chief executive Karl-Fredrik Staubo is pleased to see the unit arrive at the offshore field which will be its home for the next 20 years.
Staubo said: “We are excited to integrate the Golar FLNG Facility with the GTA hub, and starting the next phase of our long-term relationship with BP and the GTA partners into LNG production.”
BP vice president projects for Mauritania & Senegal Rahman Rahmanov said: “This is a major step forward for overall delivery of the GTA1 project in Mauritania and Senegal.”
