One of Golar LNG Partners' two floating storage and regasification units is expected to head to the Caribbean under a recently announced contract.
Project sources say Miami-based New Fortress Energy has the option to take either the 125,000-cbm Golar Freeze (built 1977) or 129,000-cbm Golar Spirit (built 1981) for its second requirement in Jamaica.
They indicate the charter rate for the work will be variable, coming in at between $64,000 and $75,000 per day, depending on the throughput of the unit eventually selected.
NFE has signed up with Jamaica Public Service Co to provide power for a 94MW gas-fired power plant it is building to serve the island’s Jamalco bauxite operations. A site for an FSRU in the Portland Bight area to the south-east of Kingston has been identified.
TradeWinds first linked these ships to NFE’s second Jamaica project in October last year.
In July 2017, Golar put its first regas unit — the LNG carrier-to-FSRU conversion Golar Spirit — into lay-up in Eleusis Bay, Greece, after the vessel’s early redelivery by long-term charterer Petrobras of Brazil.
The Golar Freeze remains at the Port Rashid long-term anchorage off Dubai. The FSRU had been on charter to the Dubai Supply Authority (Dusup) since 2010. But Dusup opted to install a larger-capacity FSRU, leaving the Golar Freeze without employment. Technically, it is due for redelivery in April 2019.
Golar announced last week that it had netted a 15-year charter deal — with an option to extend for a further five years — for one of its two redundant FSRUs. But it only named the charterer as “an energy and logistics company”.
Nomination options
The midstream provider has the option to nominate either FSRU for the project, which is scheduled for start-up in the fourth quarter of 2018. It says the capital expenditure element of the deal’s charter rate will have a cap and a floor.
The selected unit will go into dry dock prior to its deployment for modification and so that it can remain on station for the entire contract period.
NFE can cancel the charter after three years if throughput targets are not met but, in that instance, either it or Golar has the right to submit an alternative solution.
The deal represents one of the first long-term redeployments of a first-generation FSRU.
Low-profile NFE is being particularly active in the Caribbean, using LNG to import gas for the new power plant project and already has an established relationship with Golar.
NFE put its first project into operation using the 140,650-cbm LNG carrier Golar Arctic (built 2003) as a floating storage unit with Anthony Veder’s 6,500-cbm Coral Anthelia (built 2013) as a shuttle ship, transporting cargoes that supply Jamaica’s Bogue power plant.
Centrica has signed up to supply LNG to Jamaica under a three-year deal with NFE.
