LNG

Petronas, the Malaysian oil and gas company and leading floating LNG plant operator, has announced a 50th cargo lifting from the “PFLNG Satu” production hull, the first in the world to operate over a stranded gas field.

Petronas, the Malaysian oil and gas company and LNG exporter and developer, is assessing front-end engineering and design (FEED) tenders for its third floating LNG production hull.

Petronas, the Malaysian state energy company and stakeholder in major LNG projects from Australia to Canada, has formally installed its new President and Group Chief Executive Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz in succession to Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin.

Malaysia’s national energy company Petronas has signed a sales and purchase agreement for an LNG tank filling facility at Sarawak, the Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, for onward shipment to China in ISO containers.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his wife have attended the naming ceremony near the port of Busan in South Korea of the second liquefied natural gas production vessel being built for Malaysia’s state-backed energy company Petronas.

Royal Dutch Shell has exported its long-awaited first LNG cargo on the 173,400 cubic metres capacity carrier “Valencia Knutsen” from its massive Prelude floating LNG plant off northwest Australia, sealing the nation’s position as the world’s top exporter of the fuel.

Malaysian energy company Petronas said it had sucessfully moved its “PFLNG Satu” floating LNG production hull to the Kebabangan field offshore Sabah and introduced the first feed-gas volumes, while the initial cargo was expected to be shipped within weeks.

The “PFLNG Satu” had previously been located over the Kanowit stranded gas field offshore Sarawak where it became the world’s first FLNG vessel to start commercial operations in 2017.

It has now been moved to a location 90 kilometres offshore Sabah, the Malaysian state on the northern part of the island of Borneo, and is starting liquefaction of gas from the Kebabangan cluster field.

The first LNG cargo delivery from the new field is scheduled to take place in June.

“The introduction of first gas into the ‘PFLNG Satu’ was to the turret system via a 5-kilometre flexible pipeline,” said Petronas.

“The commencement of a series of start-up activities included the cooling down of natural gas until the production of the first LNG,” it added.

The Petronas Vice President of LNG Assets, Zakaria Kasah, said the moving of the FLNG hull showcases the company’s focused execution and collaboration efforts.

“We not only prove our concept of a relocatable floating LNG facility, but we have also seamlessly achieved the first LNG in just three days after first gas,” added Kasah.

“This is indeed another proud moment and a great milestone for Petronas and the floating LNG industry,” he stated.

Designed for water-depth of between 70 metres and 200 metres and with a processing capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum, the “FLNG Satu” operates with a crew of 155 onboard.

Petronas is also developing a second FLNG venture using another vessel to be deployed over the deepwater Rotan gas field, about 80 miles offshore Sabah.

Its joint venture partner is the Thai state energy company PTTEP, which purchased its stake from Murphy Oil, the US exploration and production company.

The Rotan gas well was discovered by Murphy in 2007. The Rotan field FLNG vessel is being designed to produce 1.5 MTPA.

Murphy Oil, the US exploration and production company whose Rotan natural gas discovery offshore Malaysia is the subject of a floating LNG joint venture, has sold its Malaysian assets for more than $2 billion to Thailand state energy company PTT Exploration and Production.

Murphy Oil, the US exploration and production company whose Rotan natural gas discovery offshore Malaysia is the subject of a floating LNG joint venture with state energy company Petronas, said the FLNG project was high on its investment plans as it reported its fourth-quarter results.

Global commodities companies are continuing to increase their volumes of liquefied natural gas trading volumes from international oil and gas companies and state-owned energy firms.