China's Wison Offshore & Marine to Construct World's First Floating LNG Liquefaction Unit

Houston, TX – Shanghai-based Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of the Wison Group, announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Exmar Group for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) of the world’s first Floating LNG Liquefaction, Regasification and Storage Unit (FLRSU). The facility will be used by Exmar under a Build, Own, and Operate contract with Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation, and located on the Caribbean coast offshore Colombia.

The FLRSU consists of a non-propelled barge equipped to convert 69.5 million scf/d of natural gas into LNG (+/- 500,000 tons of LNG per annum) that will be temporarily stored in onboard tanks with a total capacity of 14,000m3 and subsequently offloaded either to a permanently-moored floating storage unit or shuttle tankers. The facility will be moored to a jetty and supplied with gas by pipeline from the onshore La Creciente field, located in the Lower Magdalena Valley Basin.

Wison Offshore & Marine will be responsible for the design and engineering of the unit from its Shanghai operational center with construction to be performed at Wison’s wholly-owned fabrication facility located in Nantong, China, and further support supplied from the company’s subsidiary in Houston, Texas, USA. Black & Veatch has been contracted to execute the engineering and procurement of the topside liquefaction equipment and packages using its patented PRICO® LNG technology, and providing on-site commissioning and startup services. The complete FLRSU, including process systems, will be designed and constructed in compliance with the relevant rules and regulations of an internationally recognized Classification Society.

“Signing the EPCIC contract with Wison is a historic event not only for EXMAR and WISON, but also for the LNG industry, as the world’s first floating liquefaction unit moves from concept development into a firm turnkey contract,” Exmar CEO Nicolas Saverys commented. “Exmar is very proud to join forces with Wison Offshore & Marine to deliver a successful product to our strategic partner, Pacific Rubiales Energy. The proven track record of Wison Offshore & Marine in delivering offshore structures in time and on budget was a key driver.”

Commercial operations are planned to commence from the fourth quarter of 2014.