Golar Cameroon FLNG Project Reaches Major Milestone
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Hamilton, Bermuda: Golar LNG Limited ("Golar") announces that its Cameroon
floating liquefied natural gas project has reached a major milestone with the
final approval by all parties of the Gas Convention for the project. This final
investment decision commits the project to a targeted start date for
commissioning of second quarter, 2017.
At a signing ceremony in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Wednesday, September 30,
Cameroon's state owned oil and gas company Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures
("SNH"), Perenco Cameroon ("Perenco"), Golar Hilli Corporation and Golar
Cameroon (together "Golar") executed a fully effective and binding Gas
Convention with the Republic of Cameroon which endorses and governs the
installation and operation of the GoFLNG vessel in Cameroon waters offshore of
Kribi.
The binding Tolling Agreement having already been agreed between Golar and
Perenco, is expected to be formally approved by the 25% upstream partner SNH
imminently. This agreement establishes the terms under which Golar shall
provide liquefaction, storage, and off-loading services to SNH and Perenco as
upstream joint venture partners.
The signing today of the Gas Convention and the finalization of the Tolling
Agreement terms facilitates the financing structure previously announced and
will enable Golar to drawdown up to $700m from the facility to fund the ongoing
conversion cost. It is estimated that no further direct funding from Golar will
be required for the Hilli conversion, with the remainder of the conversion
project being financed through this debt facility.
Golar, Perenco and SNH have for the past two years been developing a floating
liquefied natural gas export project located near shore off the coast of
Cameroon situated in an area of benign sea states and utilizing Golar's floating
liquefaction technology ("GoFLNG"). The project is based on the allocation of
500 Bcf of natural gas reserves from offshore Kribi fields, which will be
exported to global markets via the GoFLNG facility "Hilli", now under
construction at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore. Golar will provide the
liquefaction facilities and services under a tolling agreement to SNH and
Perenco as parties of the upstream joint venture. It is anticipated that the
allocated reserves will be produced at a rate of 1.2 million tons of LNG per
annum, representing approximately 50% of the vessel's nameplate production
capacity, over an approximate eight year period. It is expected that production
will commence in Q2, 2017.
Consistent with previous advice, the project in Cameroon is expected to deliver
an EBITDA for Golar in the first full year of operation, based on the
utilisation of 2 of the available 4 liquefaction trains, in the range of $170
million to $300 million, with a flexible tolling structure which correlates to
Brent crude oil prices ranging from a floor of $60/bbl to a cap of $102/bbl. The
Tolling Agreement also includes a tariff for a 3 train operation in case
additional gas volumes can be processed or production advanced. Full production
by 3 trains will increase the EBITDA to between $240 million and $430 million
corresponding to the same range of Brent crude oil prices.
Golar's CEO Gary Smith commented; "The achievement of this very significant
milestone in the delivery of Golar's FLNG strategy is the result of many years
of hard work and technical innovation by our employees and partners. We consider
ourselves very fortunate to be developing our first FLNG project in a very
professional partnership with Perenco and SNH who have provided a solid
foundation to this ground breaking project. We genuinely believe the employment
of this first speculatively ordered FLNG unit and the approval for development
of the Kribi field sets a new standard for development of gas reserves. Golar's
GoFLNG business model reduces the resource holder's capex and project execution
risk, advance their cash flow and is flexible enough to develop smaller
reserves.
The Kribi field development was approved within a relative short time frame and
delivers solid economics for all parties involved notwithstanding the current
low oil and gas price environment. This approval clearly demonstrates the
competiveness of the GoFLNG model vs other alternative approaches to LNG project
development.
Significant experience has been gained from this first GoFLNG project, which
strengthens Golar's ability to assist other resource holders and developing
nations to monetize reserves which currently are either dormant or sub optimally
produced.
Golar is increasingly encouraged by the growing portfolio of interesting FLNG
projects currently being discussed and developed."
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning future
events and Golar's operations, performance and financial condition. Forward-
looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict,
forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may
contain the words "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "estimate", "project",
"will be", "will continue", "will likely result", "plan", "intend" or words or
phrases of similar meanings. These statements involve known and unknown risks
and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that are inherently
subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond
Golar's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements.
Hamilton, Bermuda
September 30, 2015
Enquiries:
Golar Management Limited: + 44 207 063 7900
Brian Tienzo
Stuart Buchanan
This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of
GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Golar LNG via GlobeNewswire
[HUG#1955666]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 30.09.2015 - 15:19 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 423715
Anzahl Zeichen: 7125
contact information:
Town:
Hamilton
Kategorie:
Business News
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