The 488-meter-long
hull of Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility
has been floated out of the dry dock at the Samsung Heavy Industries
(SHI) yard in Geoje, South Korea, where the facility is currently under
construction. Once complete, Prelude FLNG will be the largest floating
facility ever built. It will unlock new energy resources offshore and
produce approximately 3.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
per annum to meet growing demand.
“Making FLNG a reality is no simple feat,”
said Matthias Bichsel, Shell Projects & Technology Director. “A
project of this complexity – both in size and ingenuity – harnesses the
best of engineering, design, manufacturing and supply chain expertise
from around the world. Getting to this stage of construction, given that
we only cut the first steel a year ago, is down to the expert team we
have ensuring that the project’s critical dimensions of safety, quality,
cost and schedule are delivered.”
FLNG will allow Shell to produce natural
gas at sea, turn it into liquefied natural gas and then transfer it
directly to the ships that will transport it to customers. It will
enable the development of gas resources ranging from clusters of smaller
more remote fields to potentially larger fields via multiple facilities
where, for a range of reasons, an onshore development is not viable.
This can mean faster, cheaper, more flexible development and deployment
strategies for resources that were previously uneconomic, or constrained
by technical or other risks.
Prelude FLNG is the first deployment of
Shell’s FLNG technology and will operate in a remote basin around 475
kilometres north-east of Broome, Western Australia for around 25 years.
The facility will remain onsite during all weather events, having been
designed to withstand a category 5 cyclone.
Shell is the operator of Prelude FLNG in
joint venture with INPEX (17.5%), KOGAS (10%) and OPIC (5%), working
with long-term strategic partners Technip and Samsung Heavy Industries
(the Technip Samsung Consortium).
Post to be found at:
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Shell-Floats-Hull-for-Worlds-Largest-Floating-Facility-2013-12-03/
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