IIW History 1990-2015

Globalisation in all its aspects has therefore produced many changes to the shipping industry and also for free-standing maritime structures such as oil rigs. The relatively small size of many gas fields and the remote location of some make them uneconomic for development by conventional onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant using subsea pipelines. This has given rise to the development of revolutionary technology by Shell to construct the world’s biggest Floating LNG (FLNG) production facility which has the potential to transform the way natural gas resources are developed without the need to lay pipelines or build processing plants on land. The FLNG plant, which will produce, liquefy, store and transfer chilled, compressed LNG directly into ocean-going vessels, will weigh approximately six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier, some 260 000 tonnes of which will consist of steel, and will measure 488 metres by 74 metres, roughly the size of four soccer fields. When completed the FLNG vessel will be installed to develop the Prelude and Concerto gas fields in the Browse Basin, 200 km offshore from the coast of Western Australia. The FLNG project is global in nature with the hull and topside modules being built in South Korea; the turret fabricated in Dubai; the subsea structure in Malaysia; control systems in Singapore and all components coming together at Geoje, South Korea, one of the world’s largest shipyards. 19 Safety and quality of welding at all stages of production were lead drivers in the construction of the floating platform.

Shell’s Prelude floating liquid nitrogen gas facility

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