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Ophir Energy awards two FEED contracts

Published by , Senior Editor
LNG Industry,


Ophir Energy has awarded upstream FEED contracts for the Fortuna FLNG project, in Block R, Equatorial Guinea, to two contractor consortia. One contract has been awarded to McDermott Marine Construction and GE Oil & Gas UK Ltd, and another to Subsea 7 and Aker Solutions.

A competitive process

The scope of the FEED work will involve subsea development design that will enable the two competing FEED consortia to submit their Engineer, Procure, Construct, Install and Commission tenders. Key focus areas for the FEED process will be defining the number of wells required at first gas, the cost of the development and the delivery time of the long lead subsea items, such as subsea trees, that are on the critical path to first gas.

The process will be competitive since Ophir Energy will select just one of the two groups for Final Investment Decision (FID).

The FEED process will be completed at the end of 1Q16, which will allow a FID to be made in mid-2016. The first gas is expected in mid-2019.

Concurrently, as announced in May, Ophir Energy’s midstream partner, Golar LNG, will build, own and operate the FLNG vessel, the Gimi, in return for a tariff. Golar will conduct a separate FEED study for the midstream element of the project, which will commence shortly.

Ophir is considering contracting a second FLNG vessel to develop unallocated resources. A second vessel would both monetise currently unallocated resources and accelerate cash flows from Block R, thereby adding material value to the Block R FLNG programme. 

Nick Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of Ophir, said: “The award of upstream FEED is an important milestone as we continue to de-risk the Fortuna FLNG Project through the ‘Define’ phase. The FEED awards, to industry-leading contractors, follow a strongly contested first phase, reflecting the industry’s grasp of the significance, and advanced prospects, of the Fortuna project.

“With the appointment of Golar as midstream partner, and the commencement of FEED, the project has strong momentum. Ophir’s focus will now switch to securing buyers for the LNG offtake and to bringing in an equity partner prior to our mid 2016 FID. Numerous potential counterparties have recently expressed interest in the offtake and partnering opportunities.


Edited from press release by

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/floating-lng/10072015/ophir-energy-awards-two-feed-contracts-1015/

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