Page 20: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2019)

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FEATURE FLNG the signi? cant reduction in exploration expenditure since the Humble beginnings oil price crash in 2014 has yielded few suitable new gas dis- It all started for Africa with FLNG Hilli Episeyo, moored coveries. The lack of economy of scale is likely to limit FLNG offshore Kribi, Cameroon. The conversion of an LNG tanker projects to small scale and remote developments. This often into an FLNG, the optimization of Sanaga 1 offshore platform requires the FLNG facility to be integrated with the upstream and the modi? cation of the Bipaga treatment onshore facilities section of the project, resulting in projects of increasing com- are at the heart of this project.

plexity and cost. Hilli Episeyo was originally a conventional 1975-built,

Despite these challenges, Africa is playing host to impor- 125,000-cubic-meter (m3) LNG carrier before conversion at tant LNG innovation, but the success of these projects needs the Keppel yard in Singapore in 2015. It is now equipped with collaboration between operators, suppliers and host govern- four liquefaction trains, each to produce between 500,000 to ments to navigate a challenging LNG market to secure neces- 700,000 tons of LNG per year with onboard storage of 125,000 sary off-take agreements while host governments must en- m3. LNG carriers with a capacity of 70,000 to 175,000 m3 sure that ? scal and regulatory regimes do not become barriers can be stowed, and the loading is carried out by three transfer to investment. arms at a ? ow rate of 10,000 m3 per hour.

On record as the world’s ? rst converted FLNG vessel, Hilli

Episeyo is also Africa’s ? rst and currently only operational

The Coral South FLNG will be the world’s ? rst ultra-deepwater

FLNG, operating at a depth of 2,000 meters. It is expected to produce around 3.4 million metric tons of LNG per year.

Source: Eni 20 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM