Ophir Energy & OneLNG: Execution of the Fortuna Umbrella Agreement
May 02 2017 - 1:00AM
The Republic of Equatorial Guinea,
Ophir Holdings & Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Ophir Energy
("Ophir"), OneLNGSA and La
Compañía Nacional De Petróleos De Guinea Ecuatorial ("GEPetrol")
have signed a detailed Umbrella Agreement ("UA") that
establishes the full legal and fiscal framework for the
Fortuna FLNG Project, Africa's first deepwater FLNG project.
The UA reconfirms the
participation rights of GEPetrol as partners for 20% of the
upstream portion of the project, and for a future potential
participation of up to 30% ownership of the midstream FLNG vessel
by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea or a designated State company.
These participations create alignment with the EG Government
throughout the project value chain from upstream through to LNG
marketing. Signing the UA was one of the key milestones to be
delivered ahead of Final Investment Decision ("FID"). The Fortuna
FLNG Project FID is on schedule for mid-2017 with first gas
expected in mid-2020.
Project
Update
The execution of the UA completes
one of the four key milestones required for FID. The other three
milestones are: (i) the award of construction contracts for the
upstream and midstream vessel, (ii) the completion of the project
finance facility and (iii) a decision on the amount of gas to be
termed at FID and signature of resulting LNG SPAs. With respect to
these milestones:
(i)
The impending award of construction contracts is well progressed
and on schedule.
(ii)
Term sheets have been agreed with a consortium of China-based
lenders. The counter-parties to the financing have now entered into
final documentation stage.
(iii)
The Fortuna partners will decide in the coming weeks the amount of
the expected 2.5MMTPA to put under contract at FID from the several
offtake options available.
As previously announced the
expected total capital expenditure for the integrated project is
approximately $2 billion to reach first gas. Approximately $1.2
billion is expected to be debt financed, with full drawdown by the
start of commercial operations.
His Excellency, Gabriel Mbaga
Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons for the Republic of
Equatorial Guinea, commented: "This agreement is
in line with the government's objective to deliver important
projects that monetizes our gas, promotes local content and brings
world-class petroleum technology to Equatorial Guinea. It also has
brought us one crucial step closer to realizing the historic
Fortuna FLNG project. The participation of Equatorial Guinea's
national companies was critical to Fortuna's success and to
maximizing the project's value at every level of the gas supply
chain. The Fortuna Project targets becoming the first choice
supplier of LNG for the Gulf of Guinea region."
Nick Cooper, Chief Executive of
Ophir, commented: "The Umbrella Agreement is the
important foundation agreement which formalises the value chain
economics for the Government of Equatorial Guinea and the project
participants. We welcome the introduction of Equatorial Guinea's
national companies as project partners and the alignment of
interests that this brings.
The remaining
milestones of the construction contract awards, the finalisation of
debt and the LNG offtake are as advanced as we had wanted them to
be at this stage. The Fortuna FLNG Project therefore remains firmly
on schedule for an FID by mid-year."
Jeff Goodrich, CEO of OneLNG
commented: "Signing of the Umbrella Agreement is a
significant milestone. It represents an innovative way of
doing business, brings alignment throughout the entire value chain
to all of the Project Stakeholders, and provides clear line of
sight to FID for the project. The Fortuna project remains on track
to become Africa's first deepwater FLNG project."
This announcement has been
determined to contain inside information.
For further enquiries please
contact:
Ophir
Energy plc
+ 44 (0) 20 7811 2400
Nick Cooper, CEO
Tony Rouse, CFO
Geoff Callow, Head of IR and
Corporate Communications
OneLNG
+44 (0)20 7063 7900
Stuart Buchanan, Head of Investor
Relations
Brunswick (PR
Adviser to
Ophir)
+44 (0)20 7404
5959
Patrick Handley
Wendel Verbeek
About the Umbrella
Agreement:
As previously communicated, final
State Approval of the overall project, including the Umbrella
Agreement, is the final milestone at FID.
About OneLNG:
OneLNG is joint venture between
Golar LNG Limited and Schlumberger to rapidly develop low cost gas
reserves to LNG. The combination of Schlumberger reservoir
knowledge, wellbore technologies and production management
capabilities, with Golar's low cost FLNG solution offers gas
resource owners a faster and lower cost development solution that
increases the net present value of their asset.
About Ophir:
Ophir Energy is an independent Upstream oil and
gas exploration and production company focused on Africa and Asia.
It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
This
announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Golar LNG via Globenewswire
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