London-listed Energean Oil and Gas has announced first steel has been cut on the FPSO destined for the Karish and Tanin fields in the Mediterranean.
Energean is 100% owner of the fields, which are estimated to hold a combined 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
First steel on the floating production, storage and offloading vessel was carried out at the COSCO Shipyard in Zhoushan in China, which Energean hailed as a “major milestone”.
The FPSO is expected to arrive at the Karish field offshore Isreal in late 2020, ahead of production starting in Q1 on 2021.
Energean said capital expenditure for the first phase is estimated to be $1.6bn (£1.2bn).