Ince & Co LLP has advised long-standing client Golar on its participation in the CI-GNL (Ivory Coast LNG) consortium, which has been awarded the rights to build and operate an LNG re-gasification terminal with a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) in the Ivory Coast.

This project will allow for regional and domestic LNG demand to be met and make the Ivory Coast the first regional LNG import hub in West Africa. The terminal has a planned capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum and operations are expected to start mid-2018.

The consortium shareholders’ agreement was entered into on 24 November 2016 between Total (34%), SOCAR (26%), Shell (13%), national Ivory Coast companies Petroci (11%) and CI Energies (5%), Golar (6%) and Endeavor Energy (5%).

The London-based Ince & Co team comprised partners Renaud Barbier-Emery and Jonathan Goldfarb, together with senior associate Ina Lutchmiah.

Renaud Barbier-Emery commented:

“Golar is a valued client of the firm so we were pleased to have been able to assist them with yet another strategically important transaction. Our long-standing relationship with Golar has allowed us to develop unrivalled expertise in LNG projects.”

In 2015 Jonathan Goldfarb led the Ince & Co team that advised Golar on Sub Saharan Africa's first FSRU project. Later that year he also advised the company on a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) export project near shore off the coast of Cameroon. Additionally, Jonathan Goldfarb and Ina Lutchmiah advised on the completion of Golar’s FSRU lease with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan (2013), and the West Java FSRU Project, which marked the first FSRU project in Asia (2011).