Add Energy will cooperate with Transborders Energy (TBE), TechnipFMC and MODEC in the development of a new business model for the FLNG industry, in a bid to establish a new concept in global gas field development.
The new business model targets discovered gas resources of about 0.5 to 2.0 trillion cubic feet of gas that have little value to their current owners because of their remote locations or lack of an economically viable development concept.
Vital for the model’s development is the production of an innovative small-scale FLNG vessel. Rather than investing up to five years in identifying a gas resource, the new model will constitute a pre-defined concept incorporating the use of about a 1.0 million ton per annum FLNG vessel and applying it to fields that fit the concept.
This low cost concept is considered a major change in gas field development and is expected to unlock hundreds of the world’s previously uneconomic smaller natural gas plays, the company claims.
Daein Cha, TBE’s Managing Director, said: “The economies of scale pursued by mega projects have not eventuated. They are too capital intensive and risky in terms of resilience and flexibility for what is a commoditizing business. However, the deployment of our pre-determined, low cost small scale FLNG concept on already discovered but stranded resources with innovative financial and commercial structures delivered by a small but high caliber team establishes a new value proposition to the resource owners and LNG buyers.”
Add Energy will manage the drilling operations, maintenance, safety and risk management of the projects.
From their part, TechnipFMC will manage the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of the subsea, umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) of the FLNG vessel.
MODEC is the technical adviser for the EPCI of the hull, LNG tank and turret mooring system of the FLNG vessel, together with the operations and maintenance of TBE’s FLNG vessel.
Offshore Australia has been identified as suitable for an initial pilot project, with a target resource to be confirmed early 2018 and the project to be reach Final Investment Decision ready by 2020.
“The Transborders’ concept enables the development of previously uneconomic resources at a much faster pace than that of mega projects and will help feed the growing demand for energy, initially in Asia and elsewhere,” stated Eduardo Robaina, VP for Well Engineering, Add Energy.
