US independent Noble Energy has chosen Golar LNG and Exmar to participate in a design contest on a large floating liquefied natural gas vessel for its 600 billion cubic metre Leviathan field off Israel, writes Iain Esau.

Leviathan partner Tel Aviv-listed Delek Drilling said separate interim agreements were signed with Golar and Exmar on 29 July.

The deal with Golar calls on the New York-listed player to assess the compatibility of a generic front-end engineering and design study the contractor has generated for application to Leviathan, as well as detailed engineering.

Exmar’s agreement involves the contractor carrying out a fresh FEED study on an FLNG facility plus detailed engineering.

According to Delek, the proposed FLNG vessel would be designed to handle between 2.5 million and 5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

If Leviathan’s partners do agree to push ahead with an FLNG solution, a contract will be awarded to one of the contenders covering the long-term charter of a liquefaction vessel as well as its construction, financing, operation and maintenance.

An FLNG solution is being assessed for future phases of Leviathan.

Phase one is due on stream this year as a long-distance subsea tie-back to a platform on the continental shelf with gas piped to markets in Israel and elsewhere.

It will produce up to 12 Bcm annually with plans in hand to double this capacity.

The FLNG proposal marks the revival of an earlier plan to deploy a liquefaction vessel at the 566 Bcm deep-water gas field.

No timelines were given for the design contest or when an FLNG vessel could come on stream.

Weekly

Players picked for Leviathan FLNG contest