SBM Offshore to moor world's first FLNG

SBM Offshore has been awarded a contract from the “TSC” Consortium (made up of Technip and Samsung Heavy Industries) for the engineering, procurement, construction and integration (EPCI) of a Turret Mooring System for the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility.

This Turret Mooring System will be a key component of the breakthrough FLNG facility, to be deployed by Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd (Shell) at its Prelude gas field off the northwest coast of Australia.

To be moored some 200 kilometers from shore, the Prelude FLNG facility will produce gas from offshore fields and liquefy it onboard via a cooling process. TSC will undertake the detailed design of this innovative facility which will be built at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje, Korea. SBM Offshore will supply the Turret Mooring System to the shipyard in Korea for integration into the facility.

The Shell Prelude FLNG facility will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world, measuring 488 meters from bow to stern and weighing (when fully loaded) close to 600,000 tons. The Turret Mooring System, which will permanently anchor the floating facility at its offshore location and allow it to weathervane, will be the largest SBM Offshore has ever designed and built, with overall dimensions exceeding 30 meters in diameter and 100 meters in height. The facilities will be able to withstand extreme mooring forces resulting from the cyclonic metocean environment.

Floating LNG is a breakthrough 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.

Via SBM Offshore