BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG project located offshore Mauritania and Senegal is more than 80 percent complete, according to project partner Kosmos Energy.
Texas-based Kosmos said in its quarterly results report that the construction work on the first phase of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project continued to progress during the April-June period.
The project includes the conversion of Golar LNG’s Gimi to a floating LNG producer at Singapore’s Keppel shipyard and the construction of the FPSO by Technip Energies at COSCO Shipping’s Qidong yard in China.
Kosmos said in the update that Keppel continues to work on construction and mechanical completion activities. The yard has started commissioning work on the facility.
The 2.5 mtpa Gimi FLNG should start serving BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project under a 20-year deal next year.
Golar said in May that the conversion was about 83 percent technically complete.
FPSO delayed
As per the FPSO, Kosmos said that mechanical completion loop checks continue and commissioning work has commenced.
“The operator has been unable to make up the delay from the lockdown of the FPSO yard in April and the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions in China,” Kosmos said.
As a result, the FPSO sailaway date is now expected to be in the fourth quarter with the same high level of completion prior to sailaway.
Kosmos said that the partners continue to target first gas in the third quarter of 2023 with first LNG end-2023.
Besides the works at the two yards, construction work continues to progress offshore Mauritania and Senegal.
France’s Eiffage Genie Civil recently said it it had finished the central platform of the hub located 10 km from the coast on the Mauritania-Senegal border.
The hub includes the berthing facilities for the FLNG and the breakwater.
Kosmos said in the update that the living quarters platform is currently in transit to site.
In addition, Kosmos said that subsea equipment has begun to arrive in the region and installation of the export pipeline has commenced.
Phase 2 plans
The partners are also working on the second phase of the project.
Kosmos said that the plans to develop and optimize Phase 2 of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project continue to progress.
Given the change in the global gas markets in 2022, the partnership “is working closely with host governments to evaluate the optimal solution to best utilize the infrastructure associated with Phase 1 of the project,” it said.
A development decision is planned at the end of the third quarter, according to Kosmos.
“To optimize the commercial value of sales for the gas production from Greater Tortue Ahmeyim, Kosmos plans to utilize existing contractual rights under our Phase 1 LNG sales agreement to divert cargos to prospective buyers in order to benefit from the current market environment,” the firm said.