Golar LNG Ltd today announced the signing of a Heads of Agreement (the "HOA") with Societe Nationale de Hydrocarbures ("SNH") and Perenco Cameroon ("Perenco") for the development of a floating liquefied natural gas export project (the "Project") located 20km off the coast of Cameroon and utilizing Golar's floating liquefaction technology (GoFLNG).

The HOA is premised on the allocation of 500 bcf of natural gas reserves from offshore Kribi fields, which will be exported to global markets via the GoFLNG facility Golar HIlli, now under construction at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.

Golar will provide the liquefaction facilities and services under a tolling agreement to SNH and Perenco as owners of the upstream joint venture who also intend to produce LPG's for the local market in association with the Project. It is anticipated that the allocated reserves will be produced at the rate of some 1.2 million tonnes of LNG per annum over an approximate eight year period.

It is expected that during the first half of 2015 definitive commercial agreements will be executed and necessary licenses and approvals secured for the production, liquefaction, and export of the reserves, and that production will commence in the first half of 2017.   The Project will be the first floating LNG export project in Africa and will see Cameroon joining the small number of LNG exporting nations. 

Golar is one of the world's largest independent owners and operators of LNG carriers with over 40 years of industry experience. Golar's innovation delivered the world's first Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) based on the conversion of existing LNG carriers. The project in Cameroon now demonstrates Golar's latest strategic move to extend its business model further upstream by deploying its floating liquefaction technology (GoFLNG). The objective is to become the industry's leading integrated midstream LNG services provider, supporting resource owners, gas producers and gas consumers.