An LNG carrier has been cut in half as the $2.2bn job gets underway to rebuild it as Golar LNG’s first 3.5-mtpa Mk II floating LNG production unit.
The company bought the 149,172-cbm Moss-type Fuji LNG (built 2004) in 2023 specifically for conversion into an FLNG unit.
Chief technical officer Morten Skjong posted aerial shots of the Fuji LNG at Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore’s yard in China, showing the vessel cut into an aft and forward section.
Skjong said the cutting was done two weeks ago in what he described as “a 16-hour nerve-wracking — but safely and commendably performed — overnight operation”.
The two sections have since been skidded ashore.
“This is a key operation to enable the Mk II’s innovative design with an added midship between tanks 2 and 3,” he said.
This new midship sector will house the liquefaction unit, with the original vessel tanks reattached on either side to provide the storage.
The FLNG unit is due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Skong said CIMC Raffles hosted a ceremony on Wednesday to celebrate the start of the topsides module fabrication for the unit.
Golar, which has just seen a first cargo exported from its second LNG carrier-to-FLNG conversion — the Gimi off Mauritania and Senegal — holds an option at the yard for a second Mk II conversion with a delivery date in 2028. It has also been holding talks with other yards.
It has said it will move ahead with a fourth FLNG conversion once it has secured firm business for its third unit.
Golar is locating its first FLNG unit Hilli, which is working off Cameroon, to Argentina in 2026 for Southern Energy, a consortium of which it is a member.
