BP is set to decide within weeks which contractor will carry out pre-front-end engineering and design work on the next phases of its nearshore 15 trillion cubic feet Greater Tortue-Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas project off Mauritania and Senegal.

Upstream understands that Aker Solutions, Genesis Oil & Gas, KBR and Wood — all in BP’s stable of global service agreement contractors — have submitted technical and commercial offers for the pre-FEED work.

Upstream was told that the supermajor will select its chosen contractor in February or March.

BP was originally expected to choose a successful bidder this month but the reasons for the delay are unclear.

Commenting on the bidding quartet, an informed source said: “They have already submitted their proposals for the pre-FEED.”

The source said things are “now in an evaluation period” with “a decision expected in February or early March".

US-based KBR is said to have a decent chance of landing this engineering contract having been heavily involved in phase one of GTA, for which it landed a FEED contract in October after having earlier carried out a pre-FEED exercise.

It is thought by one source that the pre-FEED studies for GTA’s next phases could run for about 10 months.

Earlier last year, there was market talk that future phases would be centred on a floating LNG solution.

However, as 2018 progressed, project watchers suggested BP’s focus had switched to LNG facilities that would be fixed to the seabed in some manner — via jackets, trellises or ballasted barges, for example.

As far as Upstream can ascertain, BP appears to be focused on fixed structures for GTA’s future phases, which are expected to have a total capacity of 8 million to 10 million tonnes per annum.

Golar LNG’s floating LNG solution will be used in the first phase at GTA — based on a 2.5 million tpa vessel — with BP having an option to deploy one more of these units in future phases.

However, some sources question whether BP will exercise this option, saying the supermajor would prefer to build and install — perhaps in two stages — a single fixed facility able to handle up to 10 million tpa.

One project observer said: “I have no belief, from what I am hearing, that BP will add more Golar vessels.”

Another source agreed: “I do think that they are looking at a (fixed) platform-based development.”

The only other Golar FLNG vessel in operation is the Hilli Episeyo — working for Perenco off Cameroon — with a capacity of 1.2 million tpa, only half that of the planned GTA phase one vessel.

Last April, Golar signed a preliminary agreement and exchanged heads of terms for a charter agreement with BP for an FLNG vessel for GTA phase one.

Golar LNG subsequently completed FEED studies — costing about $20 million — before the contract was formalised last month, when BP also took a final investment decision.

Vessel conversion will take place at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore — which also converted the Hilli Episeyo — with Black & Veatch supplying liquefaction technology. GTA phase one is due on stream in the first half of 2022, one year behind the original schedule, with BP set to buy all the gas.

This first phase will be tapped by nine, deep-water subsea wells feeding gas and condensate to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel moored on the continental shelf and which will strip out and offload the liquids.

From the FPSO, gas will flow to an LNG hub and terminal — protected by a purpose-built breakwater — sited on the Mauritania-Senegal maritime boundary, close to the Senegalese port of Saint Louis.

Once BP has secured final regulatory and contract approvals, phase one will move into its detailed design and construction element with the award of engineering, procurement, construction and installation contracts to TechnipFMC for the FPSO, McDermott-Baker Hughes for subsea work, and Saipem-Eiffage for the breakwater and hub terminal.

Project execution activities are expected to begin imminently, said a source familiar with phase one.

Weekly

BP weighing up Greater Tortue phase two bids