FLOATING liquefied natural gas production is moving from the design board into reality as engineering and oil companies are pushing ahead with their innovative plans.
The world is still waiting for the first LNG floating production storage and offloading project to be sanctioned by energy companies, but market analysts believe the first one will emerge this year despite the recent slowdown in the global economy and difficulties in obtaining finance.
The huge resources of undeveloped natural gas below the world’s seabed is the driver for companies to develop methods of producing LNG in more remote locations and in deeper waters.
The key market for floating LNG contractors is the development of stranded large gas fields where it would be too costly, or inconvenient, to build a pipeline to an onshore liquefaction facility.
It is thought gas discoveries off Australia, Indonesia, Brazil and West Africa would be capitalised by LNG FPSO systems and the first could be ready by 2013.
The generic LNG production floater would include a ship-shaped vessel with the LNG processing package on board and a turret mooring system that would be linked to the subsea risers.
Monaco-based SBM Offshore is working with German firm Linde to design a LNG ship, which together they would own and operate for an oil company over a large gas field.
SBM said the project is technically complex and capital intensive, but the result would be a series of generically-designed LNG FPSOs built in a relatively short timescale.
“The LNG FPSO has been designed as a fully standalone system,” SBM said. “It has extensive pre-treatment facilities that can handle untreated well fluids, making it independent of any infrastructure and eliminate the need for new pipelines and platforms.
“The FPSO will be able to treat, fractionate, liquefy, store and export LNG, liquefied petroleum gas and condensates.”
SBM’s design would be able to produce a minimum of 2.5m tonnes per annum of LNG from a field that holds 1trn cu ft of gas resources.
The hull design for SBM would use the SPB tank technology, which other LNG FPSO contractors are also considering.
“We have identified a significant number of prospective projects on which the LNG FPSO could be deployed,” SBM said. “This gives confidence of a long term business of LNG FPSOs.”
Last year, SBM and Linde finalised their design of the facility, developed the project execution plan and selected shipyard slots to build the hull. SBM expects it would take four years to build, deploy and commence an LNG FPSO from the point of a contract award.
This year, SBM and Linde intend to secure a business opportunity for the LNG FPSO and commence front-end engineering and design work for an oil company.
Royal Dutch Shell is a front runner to be the first to use a LNG FPSO as it developed the concept in the late 1990s for its Sunrise offshore project in the Timor Sea.
It has opportunities in Australia and Nigeria for a LNG production floater to build on its leading gas portfolio, but has not awarded any contracts yet.
“We have received bids for a floating LNG concept and these are under evaluation,” said a Shell spokeswoman.
“We have the largest and most geographically diverse LNG portfolio of oil companies.”
Other energy companies are contemplating using a LNG FPSO.
Off Western Australia, ExxonMobil was considering deploying one on the Scarborough gas field, but the plans seem to have changed to a pipeline and shore-based terminal.
The partners in the Sunrise project, including Woodside Production, are still considering a LNG FPSO against laying a pipeline to an onshore plant at Darwin.
London-based Gasol and Nigeria’s Peak Petroleum have their eye on deploying a system in the Gulf of Guinea and are working with shipping companies and contractors.
