The LNG transportation company, Golar, has reached an agreement with Perenco and Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) to expand the utilisation of the FLNG Hilli Episeyo off the coast of Kribi, Cameroon, by 200,000 tonnes of LNG starting in 2022, bringing total utilisation to 1.4 million tonnes in 2022.

Perenco and SNH, Cameroon’s national oil company, have been given the option to raise the FLNG’s capacity utilisation by up to 400,000 tonnes of LNG per year from January 2023 to the end of the present contract term in 2026.

From January 2023 onwards, this has the potential to increase total annual LNG production from Hilli to 1.6 million tonnes. According to Golar LNG, the option must be declared by the third quarter of 2022.

Perenco and SNH also plan to drill and evaluate additional natural gas wells in 2021 and update upstream infrastructure in 2022 to support continued production growth from 2023 onwards.

Golar’s CEO, Karl Fredrik Staubo, said: “We are pleased to announce increased capacity utilization of our FLNG Hilli, unlocking embedded value to our shareholders by utilizing more of Hilli’s 2.4 million tonnes of liquefaction capacity. The innovative tolling fee arrangement delivers on our announced strategy to increase our upstream LNG and gas exposure. Today’s announcement is a further testimony to Hilli’s strong track record of 100 per cent commercial uptime since delivery in 2018 and will benefit all stakeholders involved in the project, as well as bringing us closer to our target to reach full capacity utilization of Hilli.”