GLNG May 20, 2026

Golar LNG Limited Q1 2026 Earnings Call - FLNG Backlog Surges to $17B as Fourth Unit Order Looms

Summary

Golar LNG delivered a record Q1 2026, driven by operational outperformance on its Gimi FLNG unit and sustained 100% uptime on Hilli. The company now carries a $17 billion base backlog across three long-term charters, with annual run-rate EBITDA projected to exceed $800 million once all units are operational. Management confirmed it is actively securing long-lead items to order a fourth FLNG unit within 2026, capitalizing on geopolitical supply disruptions that have shifted buyer urgency toward early delivery over tariff negotiations.

The strategic pivot toward repeatable FLNG infrastructure is supported by a disciplined capital allocation framework, a $1 billion cash balance, and a fully equity-funded Mark II vessel. With commodity-linked upside embedded in Argentina contracts and a $77 million pipeline investment securing feedstock access, Golar is positioning itself as the sole proven FLNG provider in a market where diversification away from U.S. and Qatari dominance is accelerating. The company is also exploring strategic options to accelerate growth and maximize shareholder returns, with dividend potential scaling toward $5 per share on a fully delivered basis.

Key Takeaways

  • Gimi FLNG produced 19% above contractual capacity in Q1, generating north of $700,000 per day, while Hilli maintained 100% economic uptime since 2018, delivering 152 cargoes.
  • Golar’s base backlog stands at $17 billion across three 20-year charters, with annual run-rate EBITDA expected to exceed $800 million once all units are operational.
  • The company is actively securing long-lead items to order a fourth FLNG unit within 2026, with Mark I or Mark II designs in consideration and shipyard pricing being confirmed.
  • Geopolitical disruptions, including the Ras Laffan outage, have accelerated buyer urgency, shifting commercial dynamics from price wars to competition for early delivery slots.
  • Commodity upside in Argentina contracts adds $200 million to $500 million annually in the first three years, with $100 million in incremental earnings for every $1/MMBtu above $8 FOB LNG prices.
  • Hilli will disconnect from Cameroon in July, undergo a 6-7 month upgrade in Singapore, and begin its 20-year charter in Argentina in summer 2027 at a significantly higher earnings base.
  • Golar invested $77 million in the San Matías Pipeline to secure gas feedstock from Vaca Muerta for Hilli and Mark II, with construction on schedule to support year-round operations.
  • Total operating revenues reached $138 million in Q1, with EBITDA rising 16% quarter-over-quarter to $106 million and net income jumping to $102 million.
  • The company maintains a $1 billion cash balance and $1.7 billion net debt, with Mark II fully unencumbered, providing flexibility to optimize financing and fund future growth.
  • Management launched a strategic review to accelerate FLNG growth and maximize shareholder returns, with dividend potential scaling to approximately $5 per share on a fully delivered basis.

Full Transcript

Operator: Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Golar LNG Limited First Quarter 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Karl Fredrik Staubo, CEO. Please go ahead.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Thank you, operator. Good morning from our headquarters in Bermuda. Welcome to Golar’s Q1 2026 earnings results presentation. My name is Karl Fredrik Staubo. I’m the CEO of Golar, and I’m accompanied today by our CFO, Eduardo Maranhão. Before we get into the presentation, please note the forward-looking statements on slide 2. We start on slide 3 and an overview of Golar today. Q1 was a record quarter for LNG production for Golar. Hilli continued its 100% economic uptime, and Gimi produced 19% above the committed contractual capacity. The Mark II FLNG remains on budget and scheduled for delivery by year-end 2027. Geopolitical risks during the quarter highlights the vulnerability of global energy markets and the need for energy diversification and security. This has driven strong development of our commercial pipeline for incremental FLNG units, and we’re now expecting to order our 4th FLNG unit within this year.

As you can see on the bottom part of the slide, this is our 3 growth designs available for the next unit. During the quarter, we also announced that we have launched a strategic review to explore options to further accelerate our FLNG growth ambitions and to maximize shareholder returns. Turning to slide 4, we will share some views on how we see the energy market development and the increasing demand for Golar’s FLNG offering as the only proven service provider of FLNG. On slide 4, we highlight the 3 key value drivers for Golar. Starting on the left, the NPV of our $17 billion base backlog is increasing every day we get closer to all 3 units in operation. Gimi commenced its 20-year charter in June last year.

Hilli will end her current charter in Cameroon in July and then go via Singapore for vessel upgrades before starting her 20-year charter in Argentina in the summer of next year. The Mark II remains on schedule for delivery by year-end 2027 and is expected to start her 20-year charter in the summer of 2028. Our second value driver in the middle of the slide is the value of the attractive commodity upside embedded in our Argentina contracts. The significant increase in LNG price indices during Q1 increased the value of our commodities exposure by approximately $2 million-$500 million per year in the first three years of set operations. Once the remaining 4 million tons of offtake is secure, this commodity linked earnings should be locked in through hedging activities.

Beyond 2030, there isn’t yet an efficient forward market, but recent events speaks to significant upside potential in our commodity exposures in several years to come. Lastly, our third pillar of value creation is Golar’s position as the only proven service provider of FLNG as a service. This enables us to open new markets to LNG exports and with our proven market leading CapEx per ton, operational track record, and retainage performance, FLNGs represent a compelling value proposition for gas monetization. On the back of the strong commercial development in the quarter, we are now focused on ordering our fourth FLNG within 2026. Turning to slide five, which provides an overview of our EBITDA backlog. As stated, all FLNGs have 20-year charters. The backlog stands at $17 billion before commodity upside and inflationary adjustments.

For all our long-term contracts, OpEx, maintenance CapEx, and local taxes are covered by our charter counterparts. Turning to slide 6 and translating our backlog into annual earnings. Starting on the far left, our 70% equity ownership in the FLNG Gimi translates into an annual EBITDA generation of $150 million to Golar. This is before utilization bonuses, which as mentioned, was 19% for Q1. Hilli, once on her long-term contract in Argentina, will generate $285 million and the Mark II, $400 million. As you can see on the commodity upside, Golar will generate approximately $100 million in excess earnings for FOB prices above 8. As mentioned, the lifting of the forward curves suggests an increased annual earnings in the front years in the range of $200 million-$500 million. This is represented by the pillar, the third one to the right on the slide.

Turning to slide 7 and looking at the development of the global energy market. According to BP’s energy market outlook, the world today consumes approximately 270 million barrels oil equivalents. This is set to grow to 295 million barrels of oil by 2035. The 2 fastest-growing sources to cater for this increase in energy demand is, not surprisingly, renewables expected to grow at 80% from a relatively low base, and LNG to be the second fastest source of energy with a 42% growth rate in the same period. To shift to the right-hand side of the slide and drilling into where does this supply come from. As mentioned, the market is expected to grow 42% in this period. However, most of the growth is represented by the world’s 2 largest exporters, the U.S. and Qatar.

They are expected to increase their market share from 42% to 53% of global supply. Interestingly to note, the U.S. is also the marginal producer, i.e., the most expensive producer of LNG globally. With their market share increasing to 33% of global supply, we see strong demand from LNG off-takers to further diversify away from too much concentration risk on 2 suppliers. To turn to slide 8. This is a geographical map of where LNG export exists today. Interestingly, where Golar operates today in Cameroon, Mauritania, Senegal, and soon Argentina, we represent the only output of LNG in those countries. When we depart Cameroon with Hilli this summer, Cameroon will no longer be an LNG exporter. That’s not only a loss to Cameroon, but it’s a loss to the global energy market, which will then face less outputs of energy.

There are still several countries with abundant proven gas reserves awaiting monetization. We are in advanced commercial negotiations with both established LNG exporters now considering to build incremental floating capacity as opposed to land-based, as well as new entrants into the market, similar to what we have achieved in Cameroon, Mauritania, Senegal, and Argentina. Turning to slide 9. The reason why this is possible is that the gas can be sourced very attractively because today the gas is stranded. Hence, on current energy prices, several of these nations have billions of dollars literally stuck in the ground or even worse, in some cases flared. If they can then deploy an FLNG and monetize that resource, that’s a gain both to the country, to the environment, and to global energy markets.

We have on the middle graph on the top, we have a proven capability to build incremental capacity at a 30%-40% cost advantage to land-based liquefaction solutions. Lastly, most of the projects we are in discussions with have a shipping advantage versus volumes out of the U.S. Hence, if you have a business with three cost drivers, the cost of gas, the liquefaction, and the shipping distance, and you are cheaper on all three, we think you have a highly sustainable competitive advantage. In fact, we see this driving the demand and the build-out of the FLNG industry. We see a very similar development to what we saw on the FPSO industry, which started in 1985 and today comprise of more than 250 units. The FLNG industry started in 2018. We’re today at nine on the water and five under construction, i.e., 14 units.

We do expect this industry to grow well north of 100 units over time. As we say in the strap line here, we believe floating is the future, and we see a resembling development to that of the FPSOs. Turning to slide 11 and focus on Q1. As explained, we have a continued operational excellence on the Gimi, which produced 19% above her contractual day rates and generated north of $700,000 a day during the quarter. Hilli maintained her 100% economic uptime and has now offloaded 152 cargoes. Because of the strengthening of the commercial pipeline, we are now actively securing slots for long lead items to secure the construction time that we are promising our clients in the commercial discussions, which we reconfirm that on Mark I and II, we expect a construction time of around 36 months and somewhat longer for a Mark II.

During the quarter, we also entered into a 10% investment in the San Matías Pipeline. This is the Pipeline that will bring gas from the Vaca Muerta field to the Golfo San Matías to service both Hilli and the Mark II for year-round operations. In the shareholders’ week agreement we have in Southern Energy. All of the shareholders have committed to invest pro rata in the San Matías Pipeline. We estimate that we will invest a total of around $77 million in the Pipeline of equity. That $77 million will also generate an attractive infrastructure return once operational for 20 years. During the quarter, SESA and Securing Energy for Europe signed an 8-year sale and purchase agreement for 2 million tons of the LNG production that we will produce in Argentina.

1 million of the 2 million tons is linked to Brent indices and 1 million tons is linked to Henry Hub indices. As mentioned, we also commenced strategic review to both maximize stakeholder value and to accelerate FLNG growth. Turning to slide 12 and the Hilli. As already mentioned, this unit continues her market-leading performance of 100% economic uptime since we started operation in 2018. We have now produced 152 cargos and generated $47 million in Q1. Our primary focus on the Hilli is now preparation work for the unit to disconnect from her current location at the end of July and sail to Singapore for a vessel upgrade scope expected to last between 6 and 7 months before sailing to Argentina to start her 20-year contract. Turning to Gimi, which saw an all-time high production at 19% above contractual levels. Part of this outperformance is attributed to ambient temperature.

Hence, when we see colder temperatures, both in the air and the sea, the unit will perform better than what you can expect through summer months. Hence, the 19% should not be annualized, and we do expect a lower production as we enter the summer months. However, we do believe that over a year, we will produce meaningfully above the contractual amount, and we expect that to be reflected in our earnings on a pro rata basis. The contractual amount brings $150 million to Golar’s 70% equity stake. If you assume, let’s say, 10% annualized overproduction, that’s an extra $15 million of cash earnings to Golar with no associated cost attached. That’s straight to the bottom line. Turning to slide 14, the Mark II remains on schedule and budget. You can see some of the pictures of the progress on the right-hand side.

Most importantly, we have now concluded the midship fabrication, which will house the entire liquefaction plant. We’re very pleased with the development and the quality of the work done at CIMC in Yantai, China. This gives us comfort to also look to do more units at the same location. Turning to slide 15, we’re also progressing the infrastructure required to support our operations in Argentina. The primary work today is, as you can see from the pictures, we are constructing the compressor stations. We are trenching both onshore and offshore to facilitate for the pipeline. There are two key pipeline activities. Initially, Hilli will produce from a 19-kilometer connection to the existing gas grid in Argentina. That construction is well underway and are very much on schedule to be in place when Hilli arrives.

The second pipeline is the dedicated pipeline that will go all the way from Vaca Muerta down to Golfo San Matías, which is north of 500 kilometers. During the quarter, SESA awarded both line pipes, compressor stations, and the EPC to construct that pipeline to also ensure that that’s in place when the Mark II arrives. So far, everything is on schedule and better than originally anticipated on SESA’s budgets. Turning to slide 16, we are now actively working to order our fourth unit within 2026. This is on the back of strong development of our commercial pipeline. We see 3 target regions for incremental business. It continues to be West Africa, Middle East, and certainly South America. We are narrowing our scopes as to which design we will build. We’ve taken active steps to secure long-lead items.

We’re inspecting donor vessels as we speak, and we are confirming shipyard pricing, payment terms, and delivery. We will update the market as this progresses, but this is now very high on our agenda. I’ll now hand the call over to Eduardo to run us through group results for Q1.

Eduardo Maranhão, Chief Financial Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Thank you, Karl, and good morning, everyone. I’m pleased to provide an overview of another quarter of strong operation execution, earnings growth, and continued balance sheet progress for Golar. Moving to slide 18. Q1 further demonstrates the earnings power of our FLNG platform, as Gimi continues to ramp up and operational optimization translates into higher cash flow generation. Total operating revenues increased to $138 million in the quarter, while EBITDA increased 16% quarter-over-quarter to $106 million. Gimi continues to perform exceptionally well, delivering 19% above contractual day rates during the quarter, supported by strong production performance, favorable ambient conditions, and continued operational optimization. At the same time, Hilli, once again, maintained 100% commercial uptime, continuing its outstanding operational track record. Net income increased significantly to $102 million in Q1, highlighting the operating upside embedded within our business model.

Importantly, this performance was achieved with only two FLNG units operating today, and before any contribution from Mark II. Lastly, consistent with our capital allocation framework, we’re pleased to declare another quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share for Q1 2026. Moving to slide 19. We continue to maintain strong balance sheets with substantial flexibility to support future FLNG growth. At quarter end, total cash stood at just over $1 billion, while net interest-bearing debt was around $1.7 billion. As mentioned before, on a fully delivered basis, once all three units are in operation, we expect annual run rate EBITDA to exceed $800 million before commodity upside. Based on our current capital structure, this would imply leverage reducing to around 3.4 times, fully supported by long-term contracted cash flows.

Mark II remains fully unencumbered today, despite $1.2 billion having been invested to date, creating significant embedded flexibility for future financing. Combined with the potential optimization of the Hilli financing structure, we continue to see meaningful opportunities to unlock additional liquidity to support further FLNG growth. Turning to slide 20. Our capital allocation framework remains clear, disciplined, and highly aligned with our long-term shareholder value creation. We continue to prioritize three key objectives: maintaining balance sheet flexibility, funding accretive FLNG growth, and increasing shareholder returns over time. During Q1, we deployed approximately $200 million across dividends and growth investments. We returned approximately $25 million to shareholders through dividends in the quarter, while investing more than $134 million across our FLNG growth projects.

Importantly, the $1.2 billion invested into Mark II has been fully equity-funded, highlighting both the strength of our existing cash flow platform and the substantial flexibility still available going forward. Looking ahead, we continue to target the ordering of fourth FLNG unit during 2026, as alluded by Carl. Based on our contracted earnings profile, we continue to see a clear pathway toward approximately $5 per share of annual free cash flow generation before commodity upside. This provides substantial flexibility between increasing shareholder returns and funding future growth opportunities. Importantly, we believe the increasing scale of our platform and financing flexibility positions Golar to evolve from a three-unit company into a repeatable FLNG infrastructure platform over time. Moving to slide 21. What this slide really shows is the scale and visibility of the next phase of earnings for us.

Today, our platform is generating $274 million of last 12 months EBITDA with only 2 units in operation. Once all 3 units are fully operational, we expect run rate EBITDA to exceed $800 million before commodity upside and before additional FLNG growth units. We expect the first major step-up in earnings during 2027 once Hilli starts operation, followed by another significant increase once the Mark II enters operation in 2028. Importantly, this EBITDA growth is expected to materially outpace incremental debt service, resulting in substantial increase in free cash flow and shareholder return capacity. As previously discussed, our current dividend run rate is approximately $1 per share annually and could grow to over $5 per share based on contracted EBITDA. In addition, our contract with SESA provide attractive upside links to LNG prices.

With every $1 per million BTU increase in LNG prices above eight, estimated to generate approximately $100 million of incremental annual upside. Combined with around 20 years of average remaining contract duration, we believe this provides exceptional visibility into long-term earnings and cash flow generation. Lastly, on slide 22. We continue to see increasing scale, liquidity, and institutional participation across our capital markets presence. Our market cap has now grown to approximately $5.7 billion, while average daily trading volume exceeds $100 million per day. In addition, we now have approximately $800 million outstanding across two senior unsecured bonds, alongside our $575 million convertible bond maturing in 2030. Today, investors can gain exposure to Golar through multiple ways, from our growing equity cash flow profile and increasing shareholder returns to our unsecured bonds and convertible instruments, all supported by long-term contracted FLNG infrastructure cash flows and visible future growth.

With that, I’ll hand the call back to you, Karl.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Thank you, Eduardo. Turning to slide 24 and a summary of our focus on continued value creation. Near term, we see increasing commodity prices boosting both earnings on Hilli’s remaining commodity exposure of Cameroon and for the front years of our Ceuta contracts. The increased utilization on Gimi results in a pro rata increase in adjusted EBITDA. As explained, we don’t think it’s fair to assume 90% annualized, but we do expect a meaningful overproduction over committed contracted volume. We have several levers, as Eduardo explained, for further debt optimization, in particular on asset level financing on Hilli and the Mark II, where any significant liquidity release will be used for growth and directed to our fourth FLNG. The startup of the 20-year contract for Hilli in Argentina will be at a much higher base versus the unit’s current earnings in Cameroon.

Hence, the reset of the contract will strongly benefit our cash flow. As explained a couple of times during this presentation, we are targeting to order our fourth FLNG within 2026, and this is even further strengthened by the global energy market disruptions, which builds momentum in our commercial discussion. Longer term, we see a continued strong development of the FLNG market. As we laid out, we see a similar trajectory to that of the FPSO industry, and we remain by our policy to add at least one FLNG per year going forward. We see, as Eduardo said, a capacity for multiple increase in shareholder returns just based on our existing three assets once they start the long-term contracts. We see strong demand for further energy diversification and security, and thereby opening new markets to LNG exports.

As a matter of fact, the NPV of Golar is increasing daily until both Hilli and the Mark II are operational in Argentina. To summarize on slide 25, we are the only proven service provider of FLNG, and we have now delivered more than 185 LNG cargoes with no unplanned downtime. We have a backlog of $17 billion. Our adjusted EBITDA will grow to $800 million a year. As Eduardo explained, we have balance sheet flexibility with a fully delivered net debt to adjusted EBITDA of just over three times and quickly de-leveraging thereafter. We are positioned for growth and we are now focused on ordering number four. We are equally focused on shareholder returns, which is evident both from our capital allocation policy and our ongoing strategic review. That concludes our prepared remarks for the quarter.

Before turning it over to the operator for questions, we would like to remind you that as stated in the press release announcing our strategic review, which was released on March 25th, we will not provide any commentary on the strategic review process until the review is complete. With that, we will now open up for questions.

Operator: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. For the benefit of all participants on today’s call, you are kindly asked to limit yourself to two questions. If you wish to ask further questions, you may re-enter the queue. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A queue. Our first question comes from the line of John Mackay from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

John Mackay, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Hey, good morning, guys. Thank you for the time. I appreciate all the color and prepared remarks. I’d love just to hear a little bit more from you in terms of the commercial progress. Specifically, maybe how these conversations have changed or accelerated over the past two months since the Iran war started, and whether that’s brought in new geographies, new types of customers, et cetera. Maybe walk us through that.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Yeah. Hi. I think one very clear effect of the disruptions in the Middle East is the bombing and fire of Ras Laffan, which has taken out at least 7 million tons for 3-5 years, according to QatarGas themselves. Obviously that impacts the forward supply demand dynamics and also the price expectations that people can foresee in the front months of an FLNG charter. That has caused the drive for urgency and try to get as early delivery as possible. This is why we feel strongly about securing long lead items to ensure that we can deliver an FLNG in 36 months, which the way we see it will be the earliest available liquefaction capacity globally. When you then have several parties interested to secure that capacity at much higher offtake prices than they originally subscribed to, you can translate that into the commercial discussions.

Instead of having a price war with the counterpart, it’s who gets the first delivery. That’s a much better dynamic for us than to discuss tariff details. That’s the key impact the way we see it.

John Mackay, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: Maybe just follow up for me. Clear on boat four. Has any of this started to pick up your conversations around a potential fifth boat if you’re working through a couple customers that several might end up wanting some capacity here?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Absolutely. As we’ve said, the reason for launching the strategic review is to see how we can further accelerate growth, and that’s on the back of the commercial discussions. For us, the short answer is yes.

John Mackay, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: All right. That’s fantastic. Thank you for the time.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Robertson from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Christopher Robertson, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Thank you, operator. Good morning, Karl. Good morning, Eduardo.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Morning.

Christopher Robertson, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Just staying on the topic of the fourth asset here. When you’re looking at a donor type vessel, which, in my mind, indicates it’ll be either a Mark I or Mark 2. When you’re looking at a donor vessel here, does it matter the type, could it be converted to either type of project? When you’re selecting the vessel, is it specific to whether it will be a Mark I or a Mark 2? Just trying to get your thoughts around expectations around the size, the specification of this fourth asset. Maybe any commentary you could give around expectations of whether or not terms might be similar or even improved from the Argentinian contracts.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Your point that a donor vessel suggests Mark I or 2, we firmly agree with. The answer is yes. We see the next one being either of the two. The second part of the question, whatever donor vessel we secure can be used for both. The donor vessel is not what dictates Mark I or 2. The magnitude of long leads will impact Mark I and 2. For now, we are ensuring that at least we can do a Mark 2. That’s where we probably see the next one coming. In terms of the commercial terms, we have previously guided that we target long-term contracts, so 15 to 20 years at the CapEx to EBITDA between 5 and 6 times. Obviously, we try to also build in inflationary adjustments as well as commodity upside. The commercial discussions we are in is within that guidance.

However, they differ from geography and counterpart as to the level of fixed versus commodity exposure. Some clients, big IOCs, are less inclined to pay a significant commodity upside, but are in line to pay the long-term infrastructure charter rates in the five to six CapEx to EBITDA range.

Christopher Robertson, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Okay. That’s clear. Thank you, Karl. Just turning to the dedicated gas pipeline. Can you talk a little bit more about the regulatory or any environmental approvals that are remaining, if any? What does the construction timeline look from today until completion?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Sure. The pipeline that will go from Vaca Muerta to go to San Matías will go alongside the oil pipeline that was started in December 2024. All of the right of way and regulatory approvals is in place. We do expect a separate RIGI protection to be awarded to the pipeline company. There are three key components to the construction of the pipeline. One is line pipes. That has been awarded and is under construction. The second is compressor station. That was awarded back in December and is under construction. The third and last part is the EPC, the actual work of putting it all together. That’s also been awarded. The construction time is well within two years. We should be very much ready for when the Mark 2 arrives.

Christopher Robertson, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: All right. Great. I’ll turn it over. Thank you, Carl.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Sherif Elmaghrabi from BTIG. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Sherif Elmaghrabi, Analyst, BTIG: Hi, good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. Starting with the sale agreement that you signed for the Hilli. For both Hilli and Mark 2, is there an amount of LNG capacity that SESA aims to have under long-term contracts versus spot? Especially since you’ve taken some commodity exposure on your contract with SESA.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Hi, Sherif. If you take Hilli and the Mark 2, Hilli has a capacity of approximately 2.5, Mark 2 of approximately 3.5. We are in total because we guarantee 90% uptime. We have just shy of 6 million tons to market. SESA has already sold the first two. That leaves us another 4 to sell. We are actively discussing amongst the SESA shareholders to reserve around 1 million tons for spot cargoes. There is currently no significant outlet of LNG in South America. Hence, with the establishment of the operations of Hilli and the Mark 2 in Argentina, we expect to open new local demand with a massive shipping advantage versus where they are sourcing gas today. A natural example for such spot volumes could be Brazil, which recently awarded another 30 GW of PPAs, where majority of that will be gas-fired.

Hence we see significant potential local demand for that capacity that should dictate a higher FOB price than what we can obtain on long-term contracts. However, we want to have a measured approach to it, so we will start off with, well, probably around 1 million tons, subject to the set of partnership agreement, and then we will see how that develops over time. That’s why the set of contract, for example, is 8 years, so we can optimize as we continue.

Sherif Elmaghrabi, Analyst, BTIG: That’s very helpful. I want to bring it back to the pipeline. It sounds like things are humming along, right? Stuff’s under construction. Everything’s been awarded. Are there any key milestones we should be looking at for this year? Perhaps more importantly, I’m curious if that pipeline would be fully utilized by the Mark II or is there any other spare capacity over the long term?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Milestones this year, I think this year we are awaiting progress. There’s nothing that will be fully complete this year. The milestones will be, I guess, on the quarterly calls. We will provide updates on where we sit versus the schedule. I guess you’re referring to the dedicated pipeline. When you talk about pipelines, there are two key things. It’s the how big is the pipeline in inches, and the other thing is compressor stations. You can boost the throughput of the pipeline beyond just Hilli Mark II if you add the compression, but there’s a limit to how much you can grow it by the size of the actual pipeline in inches. To answer the question, yes, you can boost it beyond the two units, but there’s certainly a restriction at some point, just given the size of the pipeline.

Sherif Elmaghrabi, Analyst, BTIG: Got it. Karl, thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Alexander Bidwell from Webber Research & Advisory. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Alexander Bidwell, Analyst, Webber Research & Advisory: Good morning. Appreciate the time. With the Argentina project running on or slightly ahead of schedule, are there any upside mechanisms in the contracts if the project starts up early?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Sure. We produce the hydrocarbons earlier. Hydrocarbons earlier is more money earlier, and the contract starts whenever we’re ready. However, that said, there’s a lot of infrastructure that should line up to the startup of the arrival of the FLNGs. There is no upside. If the pipeline is ready and the FLNG is not, then obviously there’s no upside. Everything needs to be in place. More than looking for the upside, we are just wanting to ensure that we are according to the schedule that we have put forward. For now, we’re tracking very well to achieve that.

Alexander Bidwell, Analyst, Webber Research & Advisory: All right. Thank you. Appreciate the color there. I guess just kind of piggybacking off that, so you’d mentioned about 90% of the FLNG infrastructure CapEx is awarded. Can you walk us through what remains outstanding?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: When you do this type of work, there’s always some additional contracting that will happen. For example, some of the costs you don’t pay upfront, but you pay when you actually conduct the work. As I mentioned, the line pipes, the compressor station and the EPC has been awarded, but there will be other costs that will come alongside when we do construction, such as roads, warehouse and certain other things that there’s no reason why it should be awarded now, but it will be sort of call it pay as you go, closer in time to the delivery of the FLNG.

Alexander Bidwell, Analyst, Webber Research & Advisory: All right. Thank you. I’ll turn it back over.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Liam Burke from B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Liam Burke, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Thank you. Good morning, Karl. Good morning, Eduardo.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Morning.

Eduardo Maranhão, Chief Financial Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Morning.

Liam Burke, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Karl, as you move Hilli from the coast of Africa to South America, are there any significant changes in geography that would affect the modification of the FLNG as it goes from one geography to another?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Our units are generic, but there are certain adjustments you need to make. The short answer is for the big impact, not much. The key changes, however, are 2. One of them, it’s a different metocean condition in Argentina versus Cameroon. We’ll do relatively large modifications to the anchoring points on the Hilli, like physically where the vessel is connected to the mooring system. That’s 1 big scope. The other 1 is that during winter in Argentina, you can see negative temperatures, which is not the case in Cameroon. Hence, we need to do a limited winterization scope of key components that will be exposed to such temperatures. Those are the 2 key modifications, but other than that, none.

Liam Burke, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Oh, okay. Great. This is sort of a nitpicky item. On corporate and other, there’s a mention of an FSRU operation and maintenance agreement. You don’t have any other legacy operations related to some of the past, either LNG carrier or FSRU operations anymore, do you?

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Today, no. When we started this quarter, yes. Golar has been around for 80 years this year. We actually celebrate 80 this year. There are always some legacy stuff. We have done a lot of work to sort of get rid of all of it because some of it we’re making modest money on, but it takes a lot of organization time. We have basically terminated most, if not all of them. We no longer have any exposure to any FSRU nor LNG carrier operations.

Liam Burke, Analyst, B. Riley Securities: Great. Thank you, Karl.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time, so I’ll hand the call back to Karl for closing remarks.

Karl Fredrik Staubo, Chief Executive Officer, Golar LNG Limited: Thank you all for dialing in and listening to our Q1 presentation. We wish you all a good day. Thank you.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.