Keppel Shipyard wins third Golar FLNG contract

Singapore: Keppel Offshore & Marine has announced this morning that Keppel Shipyard has signed a $684m contract with Golar LNG for the conversion of LNG carrier Gandria into a Golar Floating Liquefaction (GoFLNG) facility.

The new contract is the second of two options, which were part of a contract awarded in July by Golar to the shipyard for the conversion of another Moss-type LNG carrier, the HILLI, into an FLNG unit. The first option was declared in January.

Michael Chia, managing director for marine at Keppel Offshore and Marine, commented: “GoFLNG facilities are set to reduce the cost and time required to monetise and deliver offshore gas to market. Now a year underway, the Hilli conversion project is progressing to plan. This third GoFLNG contract re-validates our delivery timeframes and price levels, further demonstrating the technical and commercial competitiveness, and lower implementation risks inherent in our solution.

Gary Smith, CEO of Golar LNG, said, “We are happy to deepen our collaboration with Keppel whose impressive track record with innovative and sophisticated conversion projects will help Golar provide a fast-track and cost effective liquefaction solution to our clients looking to develop their natural gas assets. Keppel has successfully performed the conversions of three of our LNG carriers to Floating Storage and Regasification Units in the past. We are now on track to repeat that success in our floating liquefaction efforts as well.”

As with the previous two units Keppel Shipyard will provide the design, detailed engineering and procurement of the marine systems and all of the conversion-related construction services. Black & Veatch will be engaged to provide design, procurement and commissioning support services for the topsides, as well as the liquefaction process.

The contract should be effective by September 21 and delivery scheduled for 31 months after the project proceeds.