Monday 17 February 2014

South Korean consortium gets Petronas deal



Petronas has awarded the contract for the floating liquefied natural gas facility (FLNG 2) project to the consortium of JGC Corp, Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd, JGC (M) Sdn Bhd and Samsung Heavy Industries (M) Sdn Bhd.

According to a statement by Petronas yesterday, the Final Investment Decision (FID) was approved by its board on Jan 23, 2014, and the FLNG 2 project is scheduled to be ready for start-up by early 2018.

“The FID and the contract award mark a significant milestone in the progress of the FLNG 2 project.

The facility will be moored at the Rotan gas field in deep water Block H, offshore Sabah and is designed to produce 1.5 million tonnes of gas.

Nonetheless, Petronas did not disclose the value nor the financial terms of the contract. According to Petronas, the EPCIC contract award followed the 2012 dual Front End Engineering Design study for the project.

Petronas said its first floating LNG (FLNG 1) facility project had recently achieved another key construction milestone with the commencement of the vessel’s keel laying process at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shipyard in Okpo, South Korea.

“The FLNG 1 will be moored at the Kanowit field, offshore Sarawak, and is designed to produce 1.2mtpa of LNG. It is scheduled to be ready for start-up by end of 2015,” said Petronas.

Petronas said once both facilities are operational, the landscape of the LNG business will change, where the liquefaction, production and offloading processes of LNG – previously only possible at onshore plants – will now be able to be carried out hundreds of kilometres away from land and closer to the offshore gas fields.

“The facilities will play a significant role in Petronas’ efforts to unlock the gas reserves in Malaysia’s remote and stranded fields which otherwise could be uneconomical to develop and evacuate,” said Petronas.