Golar takes full ownership of FLNG Hilli

Golar announced on Monday it had acquired Seatrium’s and Black & Veatch’s minority ownership interests in the FLNG, which is currently located offshore Cameroon’s Kribi.

According to the firm, the acquisitions comprise all third-party interests in the asset, including a total of 5.45 percent common units, 10.9 percent Series A shares and 10.9 percent Series B shares.

The transaction is equivalent to about 8 percent of the full FLNG capacity.

Golar said the total consideration for the acquisitions is $90.2 million, of which $59.9 million is in equity and $30.3 million is a pro-rata share in the existing FLNG Hilli debt facility.

The full economic interest of the increased ownership in FLNG Hilli will be effective from January 1, 2025.

Last year, Golar also completed its deal with US LNG player NFE to buy the 50 percent interest in trains 1 and 2 of the FLNG.

Hilli is currently contracted to Perenco in Cameroon, until contract expiry in July 2026.

Since her contract start-up in 2018, the unit has demonstrated “market-leading operational uptime for FLNGs globally.”

According to Golar, the unit has delivered 124 LNG cargoes and offloaded more than 8.5 million tons of LNG.

Argentina FLNG project

Following the completion of its contract in Cameroon, the FLNG will relocate to Argentina to start a 20-year contract for Southern Energy, a consortium of natural gas producers in Argentina.

However, Golar said the Southern Energy contract remains subject to defined conditions precedent, including an export license, environmental assessment, and a final investment decision by Southern Energy.

In July, Golar LNG entered into definitive agreements with Argentina’s Pan American Energy for a 20-year deployment of FLNG Hilli.

The FLNG project will monetize Argentine gas, tapping into the vast resources from the Vaca Muerta shale formation in the Neuquen basin, the world’s second-largest shale gas resources.

London-listed oil and gas firm Harbour Energy and Argentina’s Pampa Energia recently joined this project, while Argentina’s state-owned oil and gas company YPF also said it will join the development.

Golar expects the project to start LNG exports within 2027.

Payment to Seatrium

In addition to this deal, Singapore’s Seatrium and Golar have agreed to resolve other remaining open items, resulting in a $7 million payment by Golar to Seatrium in relation to a Hilli Train 3 utilization bonus and settlement of historical work related to former Golar-owned LNG carrier, Golar Gandria.

Following these resolutions there are no outstanding contractual arrangements between Seatrium and Golar related to existing assets, the company said.

Seatrium, previously known as Sembcorp Marine and renamed as Seatrium following its merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine, and Golar recently decided to let their third FLNG conversion contract lapse.

Back in July 2015, a unit of Keppel O&M signed a contract worth about $684 million with a unit of Golar LNG to perform the conversion of the 1977-built LNG carrier, Golar Gandria, into a floating liquefaction facility.

However, Golar LNG sold the 125,000-cbm Moss-type vessel for demolition last year.

Seatrium previously delivered two floating liquefaction vessels to Golar LNG.

These include Hilli, and the 2.7 mtpa Gimi, which is serving BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG project offshore Mauritania and Senegal.

Black & Veatch provided its PRICO liquefaction technology for the units.

“Golar is pleased to take full ownership of FLNG Hilli. The increased ownership will give immediate cash flow accretion and is expected to add approximately $0.5 billion of Adjusted Ebitda backlog,” Golar CEO Karl-Fredrik Staubo said.

“We would like to thank our long-term partners Seatrium and Black & Veatch as co-investors and we look forward to continue to work with both organizations in our ongoing and future FLNG growth ambitions,” he said.