Ophir Energy, Golar LNG and oilfield services giant Schlumberger have agreed to form a joint operating company to develop the Fortuna field, offshore Equatorial Guinea, Africa.
The project will use Golar's floating LNG technology and will see Golar and Schlumberger working with Ophir under their joint venture (JV), OneLNG, which will have a 66.2% share in the joint operating company (JOC), with Ophir holding the remaining 33.8%.
The move sees Schlumberger restart its involvement in the Fortuna project after initially agreeing and then terminating discussions over it taking a 40% stake in the project.
The JOC will take the project through financing, construction, development and operation and, from final investment decision, will own Ophir's share of the Block R license and the Gandria FLNG vessel, which is being built for the project.
"This innovative structure aligns investment across the value chain and provides a framework to promptly deliver a fully financed project," says Ophir.
A final investment decision is now expected to take place in 1H 2017, with first gas anticipated in 1H 2020. Initial offtake is expected to be 2.2-2.5 MTPA for a between 15-20 years, monetizing about 2.6 Tcf of the discovered resource.
Total capex is estimated at about US$2 billion to reach first gas.
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