Floating liquefied natural gas

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A floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility is a floating production storage and offloading unit that conducts liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations for developing offshore natural gas resources. Floating above an offshore natural gas field, the FLNG facility produces liquefied stores and transfers LNG (and potentially LPG and condensate) at sea before carriers ship it directly to markets.

Contents

Recent developments in liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry require relocation of conventional LNG processing trains into the sea to unlock remote, smaller gas fields that would not be economical to develop otherwise, reduce capital expenses, and impact to environment. [1] Emerging new type of FLNG facilities will be used. Unlike floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs), they will also allow full scale deep processing, same as onshore LNG plant has to offer but squeezed to 25% of its footprint. [2] The first 3 FLNG's were constructed in 2016: Prelude FLNG (Shell), PFLNG1 and PFLNG2 (Petronas).

History

Studies into offshore LNG production have been conducted since the early 1970s, but it was only in the mid-1990s that significant research backed by experimental development began. [3]

In 1997, Mobil developed an FLNG production concept based on a large, square structure (540 by 540 feet (160 m × 160 m)) with a moonpool in the center, [4] commonly known as "The Doughnut".[ citation needed ] The Mobil proposal was sized to produce 6,000,000 tonnes (6,600,000 tons) LNG per year produced from 7,400,000 cubic metres (260,000,000 cu ft) per year of feed gas, with storage provided on the structure for 250,000 cubic metres (66,000,000 US gal) of LNG and 103,000 cubic metres (27,000,000 US gal) of condensate. [4]

In 1999, a major study was commissioned as a joint project by Chevron Corporation and several other oil and gas companies. [5] This was closely followed by the so-called 'Azure' research project, conducted by the EU and several oil and gas companies. [6] Both projects made progress in steel concrete hull design, topside development and LNG transfer systems. [3]

Projects 2010—2020

Royal Dutch Shell

In July 2009, Royal Dutch Shell signed an agreement with Technip and Samsung allowing for the design, construction and installation of multiple Shell FLNG facilities. [7]

In April 2010, Shell announced that it had been selected to develop the Greater Sunrise gas fields in the Timor Sea, making it Shell's second FLNG facility after Prelude. [8] The project was scheduled to begin processing gas in 2016. [9]

Royal Dutch Shell announced a 12 billion AUD (8.71 billion USD) investment on 20 May 2011 to build Prelude FLNG. [9] Construction began in October 2012. [10] Prelude became the world's first FLNG facility, anchored 200 kilometres (120 mi) off the shore of Western Australia. [11]

432m Coral South FLNG for Mozambic. [12]

Petronas

In February 2011, Petronas awarded a FEED contract for an FLNG unit to a consortium of Technip and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering [13] for a facility in Malaysia. [14] It installed its first FLNG, PFLNG Satu, in the Kanowit gas field off the shore of Sarawak, Malaysia. It loaded its first cargo was onto the 150,200-cbm Seri Camellia LNG carrier on 3 April 2017. [15] [16]

Planned projects

Petrobras invited three consortiums to submit proposals for engineering, procurement and construction contracts for FLNG plants in ultra-deep Santos Basin waters during 2009. A final investment decision was expected in 2011. [17] [ needs update ]

As of November 2010, Japan's Inpex planned to leverage FLNG to develop the Abadi gas field in the Masela block of the Timor Sea, with a final investment decision expected by the end of 2013. [18] Late in 2010, Inpex deferred start-up by two years to 2018 and cut its 'first phase' capacity to 2.5 million tons per year (from a previously proposed capacity of 4.5 million tonnes). [18] [ needs update ]

As of November 2010, Chevron Corporation was considering an FLNG facility to develop offshore discoveries in the Exmouth Plateau of Western Australia, [19] [ needs update ] while in 2011, ExxonMobil was waiting for an appropriate project to launch its FLNG development. [20]

According to a presentation given by their engineers at GASTECH 2011, ConocoPhillips aimed to implement a facility by 2016–19, and had completed the quantitative risk analysis of a design that would undergo pre-FEED study during the remainder of 2011. [21] [ needs update ]

GDF Suez Bonaparte – a joint venture undertaken by the Australian oil and gas exploration company Santos (40%) and the French multi-international energy company GDF Suez (60%) – initialled awarded a pre-FEED contract for the Bonaparte FLNG project offshore Northern Australia. The first phase of the project calls for a floating LNG production facility with a capacity of 2 million mt/year, with a final investment decision is expected in 2014 and startup planned for 2018. [22] However, in June 2014, GDF Suez and Santos Limited made a decision to halt development. A part of the decision included the perception that long-term capabilities of North American gas fields due to hydraulic fracturing technologies and increasing Russian export capabilities would adversely affect the profitability of the venture due to competition. [9]

In October 2016, Exmar NV performance tested a facility designed by Black & Veatch. The facility has a single liquefaction train that can produce 72 million cubic feet a day of LNG. [23]

On 4 June 2018, Golar LNG announced that their FLNG Hilli Episeyo had got a customer acceptance after successfully being tested in 16 days commissioning. FLNG Hilli Episeyo will serve Parenco Cameroon SA in Cameroon's water. FLNG Hilli Episeyo is designed by Black & Veatch and was built in Keppel Shipyard in Singapore. [24]

Fortuna FLNG, to be commissioned in 2020, is owned by a joint venture between Ophir Energy and Golar LNG is under development in Equatorial Guinea. When operational, it is expected to produce around 2.2 million tonnes per year of gas and to be the first FLNG to operate in Africa. [25]

Challenges

Moving LNG production to an offshore setting presents a demanding set of challenges. In terms of the design and construction of the FLNG facility, every element of a conventional LNG facility needs to fit into an area roughly one quarter the size, whilst maintaining appropriate levels of safety and giving increased flexibility to LNG production. [26]

Once a facility is in operation, wave motion will present another major challenge. [27] LNG containment systems need to be capable of withstanding the damage that can occur when the sea's wave and current motions cause sloshing in the partly filled tanks. Product transfers also need to deal with the effects of winds, waves and currents in the open seas. [4]

Solutions to reduce the effect of motion and weather are addressed in the design, which must be capable of withstanding – and even reducing – the impact of waves. In this area, technological development has been mainly evolutionary rather than revolutionary, leveraging and adapting technologies that are currently applied to offshore oil production or onshore liquefaction. For example, traditional LNG loading arms[ clarification needed ] have been adapted to enable LNG transfers in open water, and hose-based solutions for both side-by-side transfers in calmer seas and tandem transfers in rougher conditions are nearing[ when? ] fruition. [28]

Advantages

Among fossil fuels, natural gas is relatively clean burning. [29] It is also abundant, and has been affordable [30] most of the time. It may be able to meet some of the world's energy needs by realising the potential of otherwise unviable gas reserves (several of which can be found offshore North West Australia). [31] FLNG technology also provides a number of environmental and economic advantages:

FLNG or FPSO diagram FPSO diagram.PNG
FLNG or FPSO diagram

Operation

The FLNG facility will be moored directly above the natural gas field. It will route gas from the field to the facility via risers. [36] When the gas reaches the facility, it will be processed to produce natural gas, LPG, and natural gas condensate. The processed feed gas will be treated to remove impurities, and liquefied through freezing,[ clarification needed ] before being stored in the hull. Ocean-going carriers will offload the LNG, as well as the other liquid by-products, for delivery to markets worldwide. [37] The conventional alternative to this would be to pump gas through pipelines to a shore-based facility for liquefaction, before transferring the gas for delivery. [3]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural gas</span> Gaseous fossil fuel

Natural gas is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane (97%) in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and helium are also usually present. Methane is colorless and odorless, and the second largest greenhouse gas contributor to global climate change after carbon dioxide. Because natural gas is odorless, odorizers such as mercaptan are commonly added to it for safety so that leaks can be readily detected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liquefied natural gas</span> Form of natural gas for easier storage and transport

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas in the gaseous state at standard conditions for temperature and pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floating production storage and offloading</span> Vessel used by offshore oil and gas industry

A floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and processing of hydrocarbons, and for the storage of oil. An FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced by itself or from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or, less frequently, transported through a pipeline. FPSOs are preferred in frontier offshore regions as they are easy to install, and do not require a local pipeline infrastructure to export oil. FPSOs can be a conversion of an oil tanker or can be a vessel built specially for the application. A vessel used only to store oil is referred to as a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel.

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Elba Island is an island in the Savannah River, near the US port city of Savannah, Georgia, on the Atlantic Ocean. It functions as an import and export facility for liquefied natural gas. The island lies five miles downstream from the city of Savannah, and is part of Chatham County, Georgia. Its name comes from the Mediterranean island of Elba.

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Shell Australia is the Australian subsidiary of Shell. Shell has operated in Australia since 1901, initially delivering bulk fuel into Australia, then establishing storage and distribution terminals, oil refineries, and a network of service stations. It extended its Australian activities to oil exploration, petrochemicals and coal mining, and became a leading partner in Australia's largest resource development project, the North West Shelf Venture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Very large floating structure</span> Artificial islands used as infrastructure in aquatic environments

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QatarEnergy LNG, formerly Qatargas, is the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) company. It produces and supplies the globe with 77 million metric tonnes of LNG annually from across its seven ventures—QatarEnergy LNG N(1), QatarEnergy LNG N(2), QatarEnergy LNG N(3), QatarEnergy LNG N(4), RL1, RL2 and RL3. It is headquartered in Doha, Qatar, and maintains its upstream assets in Ras Laffan, Qatar. Natural gas is supplied to the company's LNG trains from Qatar's North Field, by far the world's largest non-associated gas field. It reached a record LNG production of 77 million tonnes per year in December 2010. According to Brand Finance, QatarEnergy LNG is the world's fastest growing oil and gas brand in 2023. QatarGas is said to be used through gas diplomacy as leverage by Qatar on the EU and India to advance its interests and silence criticism of its human rights violations and corruption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QatarEnergy</span> Qatari state-owned oil company

QatarEnergy, formerly Qatar Petroleum (QP), is a state owned petroleum company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The President & CEO is Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs. The company's operations are directly linked with state planning agencies, regulatory authorities, and policy making bodies. Together, revenues from oil and natural gas amount to 60% of the country's GDP. As of 2018 it was the third largest oil company in the world by oil and gas reserves. In 2022, the company had total revenues of US$52bn, a net income of US42.4bn, and total assets of US$162bn. In 2021, QatarEnergy was the fifth largest gas company in the world.

Angola LNG is a liquid natural gas (LNG) facility in Soyo, Angola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaysia LNG</span> Malaysian manufacturing company

Malaysia LNG (MLNG) is a liquefied natural gas manufacturer in Malaysia. It operates in the 9 liquefaction modules PETRONAS LNG Complex, Bintulu, Sarawak. In 2007, it was the largest LNG manufacturing complex. Currently, top 5 largest LNG plant in the world as of 2022.

Wheatstone LNG is a liquefied natural gas plant operating in the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area, which is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Onslow, Western Australia. The project is operated by Chevron.

Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) is a South Korean public natural gas company that was established by the Korean government in 1983. KOGAS has grown into the largest LNG-importing company in the world and operates four LNG regasification terminals and 4,945 km of natural gas pipelines in South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural gas in Qatar</span>

The natural gas in Qatar covers a large portion of the world supply of natural gas. According to the Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 1, 2011, reserves of natural gas in Qatar were measured at approximately 896 trillion cubic feet ; this measurement means that the state contains 14% of all known natural-gas reserves, as the world's third-largest reserves, behind Russia and Iran. The majority of Qatar's natural gas is located in the massive offshore North Field, which spans an area roughly equivalent to Qatar itself. A part of the world's largest non-associated, natural-gas field, the North Field, is a geological extension of Iran's South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field, which holds an additional 450 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural-gas reserves.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Costa Azul LNG</span> Port in Mexico

Costa Azul LNG is a sea port and natural gas processing center, located 15 miles north of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Opened in 2008, the terminal can process up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. This is the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the North America west coast. LNG carrier ships capable of holding up to 220,000m3 of LNG can dock in the deep water port off the coast to unload LNG. The natural gas from the terminal is used to produce electricity and is fed by pipe lines to factories. The longest pipeline runs north, to the United States. Sempra Energy is a partner in the port with PEMEX. The LNG ship Al Safliya was the first ship to port and unload at Costa Azul. The Al Safliya is a 210,000 cubic meter LNG ship, its LNG was from Qatar. The other Mexican LNG Terminal in the Pacific Ocean is at Manzanillo, Colima, the Manzanillo LNG Terminal.

TechnipFMC plc is a French-American, UK-domiciled global oil and gas company that provides services for the energy industry. The company was formed by the merger of FMC Technologies of the United States and Technip of France that was announced in 2016 and completed in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technip Energies</span> French engineering and technology company

Technip Energies N.V. is a French engineering and technology company for the energy industry and chemicals sector. It is a spin-off of TechnipFMC.

References

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  2. ↑ "Why FLNG?". Shell Australia. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Offshore LNG Production, How to Make it Happen - LNG Review 2005". Archived from the original on 1 August 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "Mobil's Floating LNG Plant" (PDF). 1998. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Offshore LNG Production – How to Make it Happen" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  6. ↑ Article by John Bradbury (1 May 2001). "Floaters considered for stranded gas". Epmag.com. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  7. ↑ "Shell awards floating LNG contracts to Technip and Samsung". Technip. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "Shell floating LNG technology chosen by joint venture for Greater Sunrise project - Shell Worldwide". Shell.com. Archived from the original on 29 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 Kelly, Ross (19 June 2014). "GDF Suez, Santos Halt Innovative LNG Plan in Australia : Companies Say Offshore Conversion Project Not Commercially Viable". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 December 2014. The decision highlights the risks confronting Australian gas-export projects as they grapple with high costs and competition from North America and Russia, which are vying to provide Asian utilities with cleaner-burning fuels. Confidence in "floating" liquefied natural gas may also be diminishing—two years before a Royal Dutch Shell PLC-owned vessel is due to begin processing gas for the first time.
  10. ↑ "$12bn Prelude floating plant has Shell fired for LNG". The Australian. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  11. ↑ "PETRONAS launches hull of its first floating LNG facility". Petronas.com.my. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Coral-Sul FLNG - Imo 9831684".
  13. ↑ "Technip, Daewoo win FEED contract on Petronas' FLNG vessel offshore Malaysia". Asia Top News. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  14. ↑ "awarded a key engineering contract for an FLNG in Malaysia". Technip. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  15. ↑ "Malaysia's Petronas in FLNG first". LNG World News. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "Petronas' PFLNG Satu produces first LNG offshore Malaysia". 9 December 2016.
  17. ↑ "Petrobras dishes out FLNG FEEDs". Upstream Online. 21 December 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  18. 1 2 "UPDATE 1-Inpex delays Indonesia LNG output start by 2 years | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. 21 December 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  19. ↑ "Chevron considers floating LNG plant". The Australian. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  20. ↑ Guegel, Anthony (3 May 2011). "ExxonMobil in icy innovation". Upstream Online. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  21. ↑ "Belanak FPSO – 5 years of Successful Operation and Its Application to Floating LNG" (PDF). Kgu.or.kr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  22. ↑ "Pre-FEED contracts awarded for Bonaparte LNG" (PDF). Santos.com. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  23. ↑ EconoTimes. "Black & Veatch PRICO SMR Becomes World's First Proven FLNG Technology to Achieve Production on a Floating Facility - EconoTimes". EconoTimes. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  24. ↑ "News".
  25. ↑ "The rise of FLNG - NGW Magazine".
  26. ↑ "Commercial and Technical Considerations in the Developments of Offshore Liquefaction Plant" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  27. ↑ "The Netherlands: FLNG Vessel as Safe as any Other Offshore Facility, Shell Says >>". LNG World News. 21 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  28. ↑ "A BREAKTHROUGH FOR FLOATING LNG?" (PDF). Laohamutuk.org. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  29. ↑ "Natural Gas: Cleanest Burning Fossil Fuel Understand the numbers behind the claim" (PDF). Ngsa.org. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
  30. ↑ "Natural Gas: Clean, Quality, Cheap, Domestic, & Abundant". 26 April 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  31. ↑ "Prelude LNG Development to Deploy Shell's FLNG Technology". Offshore-industry.eu. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  32. ↑ "Shell receives green light for Prelude FLNG — SEAAOC 2011". Seaaoc.com. 12 November 2010. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  33. ↑ "The Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Market 2011-2021 - Report - Energy". visiongain. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
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  35. ↑ "Gas at the gates of oil's transport fuel citadel". Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  36. ↑ "Microsoft PowerPoint - Disconnectable and Relocatable Riser System Solution for FLNG in Harsh Environment.ppt" (PDF). 2hoffshore.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  37. ↑ "Shell Booklet-blank pgs in.indd" (PDF). Static.shell.com. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
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