Belgian LNG and LPG carrier owner and operator Exmar has entered negotiations on a change to its existing financing deal with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) for the Caribbean FLNG, a floating LNG liquefaction and storage unit.
The change to the agreed USD 198.4 million financing deal comes as a consequence of the termination of the tolling agreement with a Canada-based oil and gas company Pacific Exploration and Production (PEP) over the FLNG project.
Exmar said that the contract was terminated because liquefaction of LNG in Colombia is no longer profitable due to a change in domestic natural gas market in the country and in international LNG market.
Under the deal, signed by PEP and Exmar in March 2012, Exmar was supposed to provide an FLNG unit for a project in Colombia during a period of 15 years.
Exmar will now have to pay the remaining balance of USD 202 million, the company said in its annual report, adding that it believes “to be able to successfully close these negotiations” .
Caribbean FLNG is currently under construction at China’s Wison shipyard in Nantong and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2016.
The company said that it is actively negotiating employment of the unit with several counterparts in various locations.