Malaysia’s Petronas expects to produce the initial cargo from its first floating LNG (FLNG) production unit in third quarter.
Petronas FLNG head Mohammad Feisal Azhar told LNG 18 delegates today that the 1.2 million tonnes per annum capacity PFLNG Satu is now 96% complete at DSME’s Okpo shipyard where it is being constructed in partnership with engineer Technip.
Feisal said the unit is in the final stages of onshore commissioning and will leave the shipyard in less than 30 days.
He said the floater is due to arrive on location 180-kilometres offshore Bintulu in mid-May.
PFLNG Satu, which now looks set to become the first FLNG unit to go into operation, is 365-metres long, including its turret mooring system, weighs 120,000-tonnes – 40,000-tonnes of which is topsides - and will offer 177,000-cbm of LNG storage.
It has been designed to accept visiting LNG carriers of 130,000-cbm to 150,000-cbm.
Feisal said Petronas first started looking at FLNG solutions to monetize stranded gas fields in 2006.
The company took a final investment decision on the project in 2012.
Steel cutting on FLNG Satu started in June 2013 and the unit was launched nine months later.
Petronas has pressed the pause button on its second 1.6-mtpa FLNG unit on which it has started construction at Samsung Heavy Industries.
