UTM Offshore is looking to develop a second floating LNG production project offshore Nigeria, according to the company’s managing director and chief executive, Julius Rone.
The Nigerian firm has just signed the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for Nigeria’s first floating LNG project.
France’s Technip Energies will work on the hull and the mooring system design while Japan’s JGC will be responsible for the topsides design of the unit which would have a capacity of at least 1.2 mtpa.
The feed gas to the FLNG would come from the Yoho crude oil field in OML 104 block while Vitol would buy the LNG supplies from the project.
Also, UTM joined forces last year with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to secure up to $5 billion for the development of the floating LNG producer, including about $2 billion for the project’s first phase.
The FEED work is expected to take about 10 months and UTM plans to take a final investment decision after that, or by the end of 2023, Rone told LNG Prime on Thursday.
If everything goes according to plans, the FLNG could leave a yard in South Korea or in China in the fourth quarter of 2026 and start producing LNG offshore Nigeria in 2027, he said.
Besides this unit, UTM may also install a second floating LNG producer offshore Nigeria with a similar capacity to the first unit.
This unit would not receive associated gas from the Yoho field but from other fields located offshore Nigeria, Rone said.
UTM plans to decide on this project after it takes FID on the first floating LNG producer, the CEO said.
