The Shell Prelude FLNG facility will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world
Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd (Shell) has given notice to a Technip Samsung Consortium (TSC) to proceed with the construction of the first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility in the world. TSC will provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation for the FLNG facility Shell will deploy at its Prelude gas field off the northwest coast of Australia.
Moored far out at sea, some 200 kilometres from the nearest land, the Prelude FLNG facility will produce gas from offshore fields and liquefy it onboard by cooling. Detailed design of the innovative facility will be undertaken by TSC at Technips operating centers in Paris, France, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and it will be built at the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard in Geoje, Korea, where the Notice to Proceed signing ceremony took place.
Mr Thierry Pilenko, Chairman and CEO of Technip, commented: “Once again Technip is a key partner of a visionary customer pushing back together the limits of technology. This great project is a real breakthrough for the energy industry and a true revolution for offshore natural gas developments. Technip is extremely pleased and proud to bring all the expertise, know-how and skills of its three business segments -Subsea, Offshore and Onshore- all of which will be instrumental in the success of Prelude FLNG. Within our long term relationship with Shell and Samsung Heavy Industries, we hope that this project will be the first of many.”
Mr In-sik Roh, CEO, President and Director at Samsung Heavy Industries, says: “We are very excited to participate in the Prelude FLNG project, which will be the world’s first floating LNG production facility. Samsung believes in the strength of the partnership with Shell and Technip, which will allow us to complete this project successfully. We are confident that this project will help us solidify our position as a clear leader in FLNG construction and development.”
Dr. Matthias Bichsel, Projects and Technology director of Shell, added: “We are tremendously pleased to move ahead with the Prelude Floating LNG project. In the development of the FLNG concept, Shells FLNG team has drawn on five decades of expertise in the areas of LNG technology, LNG shipping and engineering of offshore floating oil and gas installations. Our innovative mindset, integrated approach to technology development and mega project delivery expertise allowed us to distil these decades of experience into the development of what will be the largest offshore floating facility on earth.”
“The Technip Samsung Consortium is essential to the success of the Prelude FLNG project,” Matthias Bichsel continued. “We have longstanding relationships with Technip and SHI, with both companies providing expertise to numerous projects world-wide. The Technip Samsung Consortium combines the strengths of each company to enable the delivery of an integrated FLNG facility.”
The Shell Prelude FLNG facility will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world, with 488 meters from bow to stern – longer than four soccer fields laid end to end. When fully loaded, it will weigh around 600,000 tonnes – roughly six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier. Some 260,000 tonnes of that weight will consist of steel – around five times the amount of steel used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Floating LNG is a revolutionary innovation that will allow the production, liquefaction, storage and transfer of LNG at sea, helping to open up new offshore natural gas fields that are currently too costly or difficult to develop.
Source: Technip
