Ophir Energy PLC and Equatorial Guinea have agreed with Excelerate Energy LP for it to provide a floating liquefaction, storage, and offloading vessel (FLSO) to station at the Fortuna floating LNG project on Block R off Equatorial Guinea. Block R is owned 80% by Ophir and 20% by the national oil company GEPetrol.
Excelerate will lead a consortium expected to include Samsung Heavy Industries and Black & Veatch. Upon completion of definitive agreements and final investment decision, Excelerate will build, own, and operate the newbuild FLSO and provide liquefaction services to Ophir. The companies expect to start gas production in 2019.
Fortuna FLNG will lie 140 km offshore Bioko Island. The FLSO will liquefy natural gas into LNG and offload the LNG to carriers, allowing for quick and cost-effective commercialization of the gas, Excelerate said. Excelerate expects Fortuna to produce up to 3 million tonnes/year of LNG for 20 years. The FLSO will operate in water depths of roughly 1,600 m with benign metaocean conditions.
Block R borders Nigerian waters about 60 km southeast of the Zafiro oil and gas field. Ophir has said the Fortuna complex’s eastern lobe holds 553 bcf of mean in-place natural gas, of which 426 bcf is estimated as recoverable (OGJ Online, Aug. 27, 2012).