FLNG Gimi departs Singapore for GTA LNG project
Golar LNG announced on November 19 that the FLNG Gimi has departed Singapore's Seatrium Shipyard and is now sailing toward BP's Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG project offshore Mauritania and Senegal. The voyage is expected to take around 60 days.
Upon arrival, FLNG Gimi will notify BP that it is ready to be moored and connected to the hub, which is expected to trigger the start of contractual cash flows under the 20-year lease and operate agreement on the GTA field.
Golar CEO Karl-Fredrik Staubo commented: “With Gimi soon on site for start-up of operations Golar will double its operating fleet of FLNGs and bring total installed liquefaction capacity up to 5.1mn tonnes/year.”
GTA is located 120 km offshore in a water depth of 2850 m, one of the deepest subsea developments in Africa. Phase 1 – currently under development - will export gas to an FPSO approximately 40 km offshore where the gas will be processed and liquids separated, before exporting gas onward to floating LNG facilities 10 km offshore. It is expected to produce around 2.3mn tonnes/yr of LNG when operations commence.
BP and partners in February this year confirmed the development concept for the second phase of the GTA LNG project that they will take forward to the next stage of evaluation.
The partnership – composed of BP, PETROSEN, Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures (SMH) and Kosmos Energy – will evaluate a gravity-based structure (GBS) as the basis for the GTA Phase 2 expansion project (GTA2) with a total capacity of between 2.5-3mn tonnes/year.
BP and the two governments already have a long-standing and wide-ranging cooperation encompassing the GTA project and other potential energy developments. In October 2022, BP announced the signature of an exploration and production sharing contract for the BirAllah gas resource in Mauritania. In addition, BP continues to work with partners on the development of a gas-to-power project in Senegal, Yakaar Teranga.
Most recently, BP signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Mauritania to deliver a programme exploring the potential for large-scale production of green hydrogen in the country.