Project Operator News

The Golar Gimi FLNG unit, being built for BP's Tortue Ahmeyim project in Senegal/Mauritania offshore area, is set to sail away next month.According to Golar LNG, tasked with delivering the unit, the FLNG Gimi conversion works 97% complete. Golar LNG said that FLNG Gimi was scheduled to leave the yard in September 2023. „Final checks, storing up and sea trials will then take place in Singapore ahead of her voyage to Mauritania and Senegal, expected to commence around the end of September/early October…

Shell has stopped production at its Prelude floating LNG plant off Western Australia after a fire.A Shell spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the fire at the giant FLNG unit "was rapidly extinguished."The 488-meter-long, Shell-operated, Prelude FLNG unit forms part of an offshore development that produces natural gas from the remote namesake field, located approximately 475 km north-northeast of Broome in Western Australia. The Prelude is the world's largest FLNG unit.The first LNG shipment from the project - originally sanctioned in 2011 - was shipped back in June 2019, via the Valencia Knutsen LNG tanker to customers in Asia.

East Timor is confident the Australian government will support plans for gas from the massive Greater Sunrise offshore field to be processed in Timor rather than Darwin, the country's petroleum authority head said on Thursday.Greater Sunrise lies in waters between East Timor and Australia and holds an estimated 7.3 trillion cubic feet of gas which the Timorese urgently want to develop as the impoverished nation's main revenue source, the Bayu Undan oil and gas field, is set to…

Russia announced on Friday a decree that seizes full control of the Sakhalin-2 gas and oil project in the country's far east, a move that could force out Shell and Japanese investors and adds another bullish factor to prices in a tight global LNG market.The order, signed on Thursday, creates a new firm to take over all rights and obligations of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co, in which Shell SHEL.L and two Japanese trading companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi hold just under 50%. Japanese…

BP's floating, production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) for the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim gas project offshore West Africa is expected in Senegal waters for commissioning and testing by the end of 2022, a company executive said on Friday.The FPSO for the project, which straddles Senegal and Mauritania, is being built in China by France's Technip Energies.Massaer Cisse, BP's vice-president, and Senegal country director told an oil conference in Dakar that the FPSO will be…

PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) signed a $110 million credit facility, for 10 years, with ING BANK N.V., SMBC BANK EU AG and UNICREDIT BANK AG, to finance two new ice-class shuttle tankers.The ships, scheduled to be delivered in Q1 2022, will serve the Sakhalin-1 project (oil and gas development in the Sea of Okhotsk, on the north-eastern shelf of Sakhalin Island, Russia. Exxon Neftegas Ltd. (an affiliate of Exxon Mobil) is the project’s operator and acts as the charterer for the vessels.

The last section of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has been welded into place, its operator said on Monday, meaning the two long stretches of the pipe can now be joined to complete the Baltic subsea link.The $11 billion pipeline, which will double Russian gas exporter Gazprom's (GAZP.MM) capacity via the Baltic Sea, has drawn opposition from the United States, Ukraine and others opposed to Europe increasing its reliance on Russian energy imports.The project is also seen allowing Russia to forego piping gas to Europe via Ukraine…

Golar LNG has informed that force majeure events have been lifted on the GIMI FLNG the company is building for Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project in Senegal/Mauritania offshore area, and that the project would be delayed for 11 months compared to the original schedule.Golar and BP in February 2019 signed a 20-year deal for the charter of a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit, Gimi, for the project in Senegal/Mauritania, with the expected start-up in 2022. Golar then tasked Keppel with the conversion of the LNG carrier Gimi into an FLNG unit.

Russia’s largest independent natural gas producer and LNG project operator Novatek has formed ties with Japan's shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to collaborate on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.The three companies will implement projects for construction of a marine LNG transshipment complexes in Kamchatka Territory and Murmansk Region, including possible acquisition of participation interest in projects and potential financing of projects.“We have already started successful cooperation with Japanese companies in large LNG projects, including Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2, and, accordingly…

Japanese natural gas distribution company Saibu Gas and Russian LNG project operator Novatek revealed plans to form a joint venture.Novatek announced that it has signed the Heads of Agreement (HoA) with Saibu Gas in the presence of the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin.According to the Agreement, the Parties intend to establish a joint venture focused on marketing LNG and natural gas to end customers and developing the business for bunkering and gas-fired power generation in Japan and the Asian region, as well as constructing and operating a new LNG storage tank at the Hibiki LNG terminal.“We have made another important step forward in implementing our strategy to enter the end customer market in key gas consuming countries…

The Nord Stream 2, export gas pipeline running from Russia to Europe across the Baltic Sea, is 75% complete, the project's operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, said in a statement.A total of 1,855 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline were built along the bottom of the Baltic Sea in the waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany. That's about 75 percent of the total length of the pipeline, the release said.Both strings have already been completed in German territorial waters and Finnish waters. Pipelay is currently ongoing in Russian territorial waters. At the landfalls in Germany and Russia, construction works have reached an advanced stage.All pipes needed for the twin pipeline system have been concrete weight coated.

Environmental campaign group ClientEarth has filed a complaint with a court in Sweden to block the construction through Swedish waters of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline intended to transport Russian gas to Germany, it said on Wednesday.Sweden approved the pipeline in June, but ClientEarth's complaint argues that the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation failed to consider the impact the project would have on wildlife in the Baltic Sea.The work involves detonating World…

Saipem has been awarded contracts for the second phase of the ExxonMobil led Liza development offshore Guyana.These contracts, assigned by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), an affiliate of ExxonMobil, as the project operator, are in addition to those awarded to Saipem in 2017 for Liza Phase 1.Following engineering and subject to requisite government approvals, project sanction from the joint venture and an authorization to proceed with the next phase, Saipem will then perform detailed engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of the risers, flowlines, and associated structures and jumpers. Saipem will also transport and install umbilicals…

Chevron Corp will proceed with the second stage of its giant Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant off the northwest coast of Western Australia, the company said on Saturday.Chevron and its joint venture partners plan to sink 11 new wells in the Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields and build offshore pipelines and subsea structures to pipe the gas to the nearby 15.6 million tonne a year LNG plant on Barrow Island.The $54 billion Gorgon project came on stream in March 2016 but suffered numerous unplanned shutdowns in its early stages.Chevron declined to put a cost on stage two of the project…

Russia’s PAO Sovcomflot (SCF Group) currently operates 10 vessels that serve the Sakhalin-2 project, including three oil tankers, two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and five icebreaking supply and standby vessels. Its latest addition to this specialized fleet, a newly built multifunctional icebreaking standby vessel (IBSBV), was formally named Fedor Ushakov at a ceremony on October 11. The vessel is the third in a series of four IBSBVs purpose-designed for operating in the…

The Gazprom Management Committee took note of the information on the progress of the Nord Stream 2 project. The meeting commended the progress made on Nord Stream 2, stressing that the project was going according to the approved schedule. In early September, the project operator Nord Stream 2 AG signed a contract with a subsidiary of Wasco Group for concrete weight coating, logistics, and pipe storage. At the end of that month, first pipes manufactured by United Metallurgical Company and Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant were delivered to the coating plant in Finland. In late October, first pipes produced by Germany’s Europipe GmbH arrived at the coating facility in Germany.

Sovcomflot Group and Sberbank CIB  have signed a 14-year $340 million credit facility agreement to finance the construction of three Arctic shuttle tankers for the Novy Port project  (project operator: Gazprom eft). Novy Port is one of the largest oil and gas condensate deposits on the Yamal peninsula in Russia. The vessels will serve as part of project infrastructure designed to enable year-round shipment of crude oil from an offshore loading terminal in the Gulf of Ob. The commercial production from the field will start in 2016. The transaction involves Sberbank Europe AG, a subsidiary bank of PJSC Sberbank. Commenting on the transaction…

Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister expects OKIOC, a consortium exploring the giant offshore Kashagan oil deposit, to appoint a project operator within two weeks. Kashagan is seen as potentially the largest oil find in the world in the last 30 years, and could make the vast Central Asian nation of 15 million a leading world oil producer within the next 20 years. But development of the field is still years away, and the nine-member Offshore Kazakhstan International Oil Company (OKIOC) has yet to name an operator for the project. First Deputy Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov said he saw some progress on issue. "I believe the decision on the operator can be expected within the next 15 days," he said.

Crowley Marine Services' Energy and Marine Services business unit has successfully moved the 312-ft. square concrete island drilling structure Orlan from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Sovietskaya Gavan in the Russian Far East for Sakhalin I Project operator, Exxon Neftegas Limited (ENL), a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation. The Orlan (ex Glomar Beaufort Sea I) Concrete Island Drilling System (CIDS) was purchased from Global Marine Drilling Company and will be used for oil production as part of the Sakhalin 1 project, offshore Russia. It was moved from its stack site near Northstar Island, off Prudhoe Bay using two Crowley Sea Victory Class 7,200 bhp twin screw oceangoing tugs with more than 110 tons bollard pull each.

Crowley Marine Services' Energy and Marine Services business unit has successfully moved the 312-ft. (9.5-m) square concrete island drilling structure Orlan from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Sovietskaya Gavan in the Russian Far East for Sakhalin I Project operator, Exxon Neftegas Limited (ENL), a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation. The Orlan (ex Glomar Beaufort Sea I) Concrete Island Drilling System (CIDS) was purchased from Global Marine Drilling Company and will be used for oil production as part of the Sakhalin 1 project, offshore Russia. It was moved from its stack site near Northstar Island, off Prudhoe Bay using two Crowley Sea Victory Class 7,200 bhp twin screw oceangoing tugs with more than 110 tons bollard pull each.

Gazprom inform that Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer of Shell, met in Sochi and signed a document that that envisages the preparation of FEED documentation for the third LNG production train within the Sakhalin II project. “The global LNG market is booming – primarily in Asian countries. Novel LNG production capacities are the key to achieving a strong position in this market,” said Alexey Miller. “We welcome the sequential approach of our strategic partner Gazprom to expanding the LNG plant in the Prigorodnoye settlement.

SCF Group (Sovcomflot)
 has released its audited financial results for the year ending 31, December 2013, indicating a slip in profitability during what they describe as another challenging year for the international tanker industry. Further implementation of programme of commercial voyages along the Northern Sea Route, involving ice-class tankers SCF Yenisei  and Viktor Bakaev (first transit completed by the Group in an East-West direction) and the bulk carrier NS Yakutia.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd's (Keppel O&M) subsidiaries, Keppel Subic Shipyard, Inc. (Keppel Subic Shipyard) in the Philippines and Keppel Verolme BV (Keppel Verolme) in the Netherlands, have secured contracts totalling S$160 million. Keppel Subic Shipyard has been awarded a contract from Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX) to build a Depletion Compression Platform (DCP) to support the recovery of natural gas from the Malampaya gas field near Palawan Island, in the Philippines. When completed, the DCP will be deployed next to an existing shallow water production platform. The DCP is designed to maintain the current availability and deliverability of natural gas from the Malampaya field through regulating the gas export pressure and flow rates.