(Business in Cameroon) - Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH), Cameroon’s state-owned Oil & Gas Company, announced on 30 September 2015, it has signed with Perenco Cameroon and Golar LNG Cameroon’s “first gas convention”.

This gas convention endorses the installation and operation of a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) unit offshore Kribi, in the Southern part of Cameroon. This project, “first of the kind in Africa”, involves the “conversion of the Golar Hilli gas carrier owned by Golar Hilli Corporation into a liquefaction unit. Works for the conversion of the carrier are currently in progress at the Keppel shiyards, Singapour”.

The floating unit which has a production capacity of 1.2 million tons of LNG/yr, will deliver its first exportable output in mid-2017, SNH says. Additionally, this unit in which Golar LNG invested more than 700 billion FCFA (1.3 billion $) will also produce, domestically, 30,000 tons of gas each year, as well as 5,000 Bpd of condensate, official sources revealed.

The FLNG facility aims to help Cameroon meet its demand for liquefied natural gas whilst awaiting the construction of a fixed plant near Kribi’s deep water port by SNH and partners Perenco and Engie.

According to SNH, more than 400 billion FCFA will go into the construction project for the fixed plant which should create around 1,000 jobs during its construction stage and 100 direct jobs when it starts operating.

Brice R. Mbodiam