Golar LNG and BP have agreed an 11-month extension on the delivery date of an LNG carrier that is under conversion into a floating LNG production unit for the Tortue LNG project in West Africa.
Tor Olav Troim-led Golar said its subsidiary Gimi MS Corp and the energy major's BP Mauritania Investments have confirmed a revised schedule for a target connection date for the FLNG unit Gimi. The vessel is earmarked to serve the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gasfield project on the maritime border of Senegal and Mauritania.
This had originally been scheduled for 2022, as agreed in a 20-year lease and operate agreement inked on 26 February 2019.
It will now be extended by 11 months.
Golar said that both parties have confirmed there is no force majeure event ongoing and the lease and operate agreement are unchanged.
"The confirmation of a revised project schedule with BP and exchange of notices is expected to facilitate the conclusion of ongoing discussions with both engineering, procurement and construction contractors and lending banks regarding the adjustment of construction and financing schedules, respectively," Golar said.
The shipowner received a force majeure claim from BP on the FLNG unit Gimi in April.
BP said it would not be able to receive the floater by the target connection date in 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The energy major said the delay to the project would be about one year and said it would not be possible to shorten this hold-up.
Golar is converting the 126,000-cbm LNG carrier Gimi (built 1976) into a 2.3-million-tonnes-per-annum LNG floater at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore in a $947m project.
The company started a dialogue with BP on receipt of the force majeure notice and Keppel to reschedule activities.
The Gimi is the second FLNG unit for Golar LNG.
The company was the first to convert an LNG carrier into a floater. Its first unit — the Hilli Episeyo — is in operation off Cameroon, where it has produced 34 cargoes.
