Talks between Ophir Energy and Schlumberger to partner up on the Fortuna (32/24) floating LNG project in Equatorial Guinea have collapsed. Ophir said it had been unable to complete the deal for its Fortuna project on the terms agreed in January, when it signed a preliminary contract with the world's largest oilfield services provider. Nick Cooper, CEO of Ophir, said, “The Fortuna project work streams are progressing towards FID [final investment decision]. We have been reviewing a number of options and our discussions continue with other quality counterparties that can offer an attractive source of funding. In addition, the reduction in the capex to first gas has lowered the project breakeven oil price to approximately $40 per barrel. We continue to work closely with Golar, the prospective offtakers and the other potential partners and remain confident that we will take the FID in 2016.”

Sevan Marine has been tasked by a U.S. oil major to continue the paid floating LNG (FLNG) feasibility study announced in third-quarter 2015 for the use of Sevan Marine’s cylindrical hull for a specific FLNG development. It has been awarded a follow-up study focused on the marine aspects of Sevan Marine’s unique cylindrical design. The study is expected to generate about 9,000 hours of paid engineering work through 2016.

Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Co. has pumped first oil from the Aje (32/22) Field in OML 113 offshore Nigeria. Subsea installation activities had been underway at Aje since January, and were completed in early March ready for the hookup of the Front Puffin FPSO unit, which arrived in Nigeria on March 16. Oil produced from the Aje Field will be stored on the Front Puffin, which has production capacity of 40 Mbbl/d and storage capacity of 750 Mbbl. Aje is situated in water depths ranging from 100 m to 1,000 m about 24 km from the coast.

Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas has marked another construction milestone for its second floating LNG facility PFLNG2, with the official launch of the hull at Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Geoje Island, South Korea. The 393-m long hull was floated out from the Green Dock 3 to anchor at the quayside of the SHI shipyard signifying the near completion of the hull construction, which commenced in June 2015.

Offshore pre-lay of the 77-km chain and cable mooring system for the Inpex-operated Ichthys (32/23) LNG project has been completed in the Browse Basin off the coast of Western Australia. As part of the mooring system, 49 chains were laid on the seabed in water depths of up to 250 m and anchored to foundation piles—5.5 m in diameter and 63 m long. The mooring system will secure two offshore facilities—the central processing facility and FPSO facility—at the Ichthys Field seabed for at least 40 years of continuous operation. Supplying more than 40,000 tonnes of large-scale anchor chains for the project represented nearly 18 months of worldwide chain production. Each chain link weighs more than 700 kg, Inpex explained.