Daewoo unveils world’s 1st floating LNG factory

When Azura Ahmad Tajuddin stroke a hand ax to a string, a fanfare was played with petals flying. Mrs. Azura is a wife of Chairman Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin at Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company. With the ceremony, the world’s first “floating LNG factory” was given its official name.

In the morning of Friday at Okpo shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has unveiled the floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG), which is the world's first. The FLNG had won the Petronas FLNG Contract at 909.8 billion won (approx. 759 million U.S. dollars) in June 2012.

The FLNG literally means a water-based LNG factory that floats in the sea. In the past, natural gas, which was produced at a fixed drilling facility, was sent to the land through a long-distance pipeline, liquefied and stored before the gas was commercialized. The FLNG, however, is equipped with all the facilities required for production, loading and unloading. With better economic feasibility, the FLNG can relocate itself from a gas field to another one when production is finished. “The FLNG is considered to be a game changer in LNG industry. We are proud of ourselves in succeeding this project for the first time in the world,” said CEO Jeong Seong-rip of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

The FLNG was unbelievably huge to be able to float on the water. With some 365 meters in length and 60 meters in width, it’s longer than the laying Eiffel Towel and 3.6 times the size of soccer field. Its gas-burning “flare tower” soars some 130 meters above sea level.

The view from a deck, which is reachable after an elevator riding to 30-meter above sea level, gives dizziness. Its production structure installed on the upper part has very complex intertwined pipes, which weighs some 46,000 tons. The hull can house up to 180,000 m³ of LNG and 20,000 m³ condensate (crude from gas field). Looking at the whole unit, one could feel as if looking at a huge industrial complex. Able to accommodate up to 180 people, it has an indoor golf simulator, a cinema and a swimming pool. Delivered to Petronas next month, PFLNG SATU plans to produce up to 1.2 million tons of LNG at Kanowit gas field in northwest Sarawak, Malaysia.

“As environmental regulations are getting tighter with Paris Agreement in December 2015, LNG is at the center of global attention as “clean energy.” Given the fact, FLNG demand is expected to grow,” Daewoo explained.

거제=김성규기자 sunggyu@donga.com