The delivery of a floating liquefied natural gas vessel to BP’s challenging Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project offshore Senegal and Mauritania has been further delayed.

The vessel lies at the heart of the project, where first gas is due to flow this year, but the latest delay has the potential to jeopardise the current schedule.

Golar LNG said the Gimi FLNG vessel is 94% technically complete, but the departure date from Keppel Shipyard has been postponed from the first half of 2023 to the third quarter “to allow for vessel completion and testing and a greater proportion of commissioning work to be performed in Singapore, where requisite skills and resources are more accessible”.

The Oslo-listed player said the “updated sail away timing is not expected to impact first feed gas” on the GTA project.

This wording suggests gas may flow from the project’s subsea wells to the FLNG vessel in 2023, but does not state if the first cargo would be offloaded this year.

Golar said pre-commissioning contractual cash flows under its lease and operate agreement have started, but stressed that there is a “contract interpretation dispute” about elements of contractual cash flows.

This dispute relates to payments due from BP to Golar as a result of delays announced in 2020 related to force majeure claims.

However, Golar said, the dispute does not affect wider execution of the 20-year project that is expected to unlock $3 billion of adjusted EBITDA backlog.