The Gimi floating LNG (FLNG) vessel that will serve the BP-operated multibillion-dollar Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG project has arrived on site on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border, BP announced Feb. 15.

Start-up is slated for later this year, after being delayed in 2023.

GTA Phase 1 is set to produce around 2.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). The project is expected to produce LNG for more than 20 years and enable Mauritania and Senegal to become a global LNG hub, BP said.

With wells located in water depths of up to 2850 m, the GTA Phase 1 development has some of the deepest subsea infrastructure in Africa. GTA Phase 2 is being designed.

The GTA Phase 1 project will produce gas from reservoirs in deep water, approximately 120 km offshore, through a subsea system to an FPSO already on site. The vessel will initially process the gas to remove heavier hydrocarbon components.

Gas will then be transported by pipeline to the Gimi FLNG at the GTA Hub, where it will be cryogenically cooled in the vessel’s four liquefaction trains and stored before transfer to LNG carriers. Gimi can store up to 125,000 cu. m of LNG.

Gimi, owned and operated by Golar LNG, set sail from Singapore in November 2023 and travelled 9,000 nautical miles to the GTA site. Golar LNG announced the vessel’s arrival on site in January.

BP operates the project with 56% interest on behalf of partners Kosmos Energy with 27% interest, Petrosen with 10% and SMH with 7%.

Offshore