Elaine Maslin looks at some of the ongoing and proposed FLNG projects around the globe (First published in the December 2017 OE, access the full issue here).
West Africa has seen a good amount of floating LNG project activity this year with three developments underway.
Golar Hilli, pictured right, taking shape.
Golar Cameroon will use the Hilli Espiseyo floating LNG (FLNG) vessel (the first FLNG conversion, by Keppel), using Black & Veatch liquefaction technology. It will produce the remaining reserves from the Sanaga field, which was the first offshore gas field to be developed in Cameroon. It had been produced from two gas wells via an offshore production module, with gas exported to a gas processing plant at Kribi, onshore. Perenco and the national oil company signed a deal in 2015 to develop the remaining reserves of Sanaga into gas petroleum liquids for the domestic market and LNG for export through an FLNG unit. The project is due on stream in 2018.
The next project waiting in the wings is Ophir Energy’s Fortuna FLNG development in Equatorial Guinea. Earlier this year, Ophir Energy awarded an upstream construction contract for Fortuna (West Africa’s first deepwater FLNG project) to OneSubsea and Subsea 7’s Subsea Integration Alliance. The firms will provide engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) work on subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) and for the subsea production systems.
The end result will be delivery of 440 MMscf/d of gas through infrastructure comprising four wells (three into the Fortuna field and one into the underlying Viscata field) at 1790m average water depth. First gas is planned for 2020. A final investment decision (FID) was due by the end of 2017. Fortuna sits in Block R, some 140km west of Bioko Island, in the southeastern Niger Delta complex.
OneLNG, a joint venture between Schlumberger and Golar LNG, is exploring FLNG potential in Blocks O and I offshore Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s capital, which sits on Bioko island, off the mainland. In addition to this, OneLNG, which was originally formed to work on Ophir’s Fortuna project, is also working on 3-4 additional projects, each involving one or more FLNG unit, the firm said in May this year.
BP and partner Kosmos are assessing an FLNG development for the cross-border greater Tortue development between Mauritania and Senegal. According to the World LNG Report, a conversion is being considered with first export targeted for 2021.
In October, KBR was awarded pre-front end engineering design (FEED) and project support services contracts by BP. The work will provide pre-FEED and project support covering design of the subsea, pre-treatment floating LNG production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, inshore hub/terminal, and interfaces for FLNG unit for the Tortue project.
East Africa
The discovery of large gas reserves offshore East Africa has resulted in FLNG proposals in Mozambique and Tanzania. Eni made a final investment decision (FID) on its Coral FLNG project in Area 4 offshore Mozambique this year, with start-up planned by 2022.
The FLNG facility will be moored in 2000m water depth and will be designed to produce 3.4 MTPA of LNG (5 Tcf in total) from six subsea wells.
In June, TechnipFMC, together with JGC Corp. and Samsung Heavy Industries, all partners in the TJS Consortium, were awarded a contract for the Coral FLNG facility EPCIC and start-up work, as well as its risers and subsea flowlines system, and installation of the umbilicals and subsea equipment.
In August, Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), was awarded a contract by the TJS JV for rotating equipment for the power and gas refrigeration process of the new FLNG facility. SOFEC, a Modec Group company, was awarded the turret mooring system supply contract for the project.
Anadarko Petroleum has also finalized agreements with Mozambique’s government, paving the way for its LNG project in Area 1. Anadarko says it is developing Mozambique’s first onshore LNG plant, consisting of two initial LNG trains with a total capacity of 12 MTPA to support the Golfinho/Atum field in Offshore Area 1.
Australia
FLNG is considered the lead development option for ExxonMobil’s Scarborough gas field based on a balance of economic, environmental and social considerations. Scarborough, discovered in 1979, is located off the coast of Western Australia 220km northwest of Exmouth in 900m of water. It is one of the most remote of the Carnarvon Basin gas resources.
Asia
Meanwhile, Wison Offshore & Marine is working with KBR on Kumul Petroleum Holdings’s 1.5 MPTA FLNG project in Papua New Guinea, Southeast Asia. KBR had already won a contract from Kumul Petroleum for feasibility studies services for an energy hub in the Kikori region of the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea. Wison, meanwhile, has also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with LNG transport and containment system firm GTT to work together on projects including LNG floating storage regasification units and FLNG.
North America
In the US, the Delfin LNG Deepwater Port project offshore Louisiana, has made greater strides toward FID, which is being targeted for 2018. This summer, the firm received approval from the US Department of Energy for long-term exports of LNG to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement with the US.
Delfin signed a joint development agreement with Golar LNG in June this year. The agreement will see the project, off the coast of Cameron Parish, use Golar’s FLNG technology. The agreement will see Golar develop a third floating liquefaction vessel, the Mark II, based on its Hilli and Gandria designs, to be used offshore Africa. The Mark II will have >3.0 MMTPA (million metric ton per annum) of liquefaction capacity.
The Delfin LNG project, a brownfield deepwater port, will be designed to support up to four FLNG vessels, capable of producing 13 MMTPA of LNG. It is the first FLNG project under development in the US, and the company is targeting first LNG by 2021-22.
The project has four major components, including the UTOS subsea pipeline that Delfin purchased from Enbridge in 2014. A new onshore compressor system will allow gas to flow through UTOS from onshore to the Delfin LNG Deepwater Port, 50mi offshore. The port will be the site of four mooring systems to house the four FLNG vessels.
On a break
Petronas had plans for a PFLNG 2 project, but this was put on hold earlier this year, says the World LNG Report.
The Caribbean FLNG project offshore Colombia was originally slated to be the first operational floating project. Following delays, it was cancelled altogether in 2016. In Canada, the Douglas Channel FLNG partners – Altagas, Idemitsu, EDF Trading, and Exmar – halted development work in early 2016.
But, there’s still focus on projects with smaller capacities. Indeed, the Browse FLNG partners in Australia put the 11 MTPA project on hold in 2016, but they are examining smaller-scale options, according to the World LNG Report.
Subscribe
