UK-based energy giant BP said on Thursday that Golar LNG’s converted FLNG, Gimi, has arrived at the site of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project offshore Mauritania and Senegal.
BP said in a statement that the “successful and safe arrival of the FLNG vessel is another step forward” for GTA Phase 1.
The firm said that it is “fully focused on safely completing the project” but it did not provide any information regarding commissioning activities and the commercial launch of the delayed project.
Last month, Golar said that the FLNG, which was converted from a 1975-built Moss LNG carrier with a storage capacity of 125,000 cbm, has arrived at the site.
However, Golar and BP have agreed that the FLNG “will proceed to moor offshore Tenerife while awaiting completion of the necessary preparatory activities,” Golar said at the time.
The FLNG departed Seatrium’s yard in Singapore on November 19.
BP said the FLNG vessel is at the heart of the GTA Phase 1 development, operated by BP with partners, Kosmos Energy, PETROSEN, and SMH.
The project is set to produce around 2.3 million tonnes of LNG per year.
It is expected to produce LNG for more than 20 years, enabling Mauritania and Senegal to become a global LNG hub, BP said.
The GTA Phase 1 project will produce gas from reservoirs in deep water, about 120km offshore, through a subsea system to a floating production and storage offloading (FPSO) vessel, which will initially process the gas, removing heavier hydrocarbon components.
Moreover, the gas will then be transported by pipeline to the FLNG vessel at the GTA Hub where it will be cryogenically cooled in the vessel’s four liquefaction trains and stored before transfer to LNG carriers.
FPSO in Tenerife
As per the project’s FPSO unit, it left Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry’s yard in Qidong, China in January last year.
With eight processing and production modules, the FPSO will process around 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
Kosmos previously said the FPSO was expected to arrive on location in the first quarter of 2024.
Its AIS data showed on Thursday it was located in Tenerife.
Subsea work
Golar said in its third-quarter report that commissioning is expected to take about six months from the commissioning start date with commercial operations (COD) expected thereafter.
This means that the commercial launch of the project could be achieved in the third quarter of 2024.
Golar and the GTA partners are “working on initiatives to further optimize the commissioning period in order to achieve COD as early as possible,” it previously said.
BP’s CEO Murray Auchincloss told analysts during BP’s third-quarter earnings call that the company is “hopeful” that it will launch the first phase of its Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG project in the first quarter of 2024.
The company pushed back the start of the project due to a delay in the subsea scope.
However, US firm and project partner Kosmos said in its third-quarter report that the delivery of first gas from the first phase of the project has the potential to slip into the second quarter of 2024.
In October, BP selected Swiss-based offshore contractor Allseas to complete the remaining subsea pipelay scope for the FLNG project, replacing previous contractor Houston-based McDermott.
Allseas said in December that it has started GTA offshore pipelay work using what it says is the world’s largest construction vessel, Pioneering Spirit. Allseas’ offshore construction support vessel Oceanic is providing installation support.
Pioneering Spirit will complete the pipelay scope, which covers the approximately 75 km outstanding on the two export gas lines and four CRA infield lines, with multiple structures, Allseas said.