Shell to build world’s largest offshore floating facility

Shell is planning to build the world’s largest offshore floating facility. The FLNG facility will be sited 200 km offshore Australia.

Moored some 200 km from the nearest land in Australia, Shell's FLNG facility will produce gas from offshore fields and liquefy it onboard.

The facility will be constructed in a shipyard in Korea, and will be used to help open up new natural gas fields at sea that are currently considered too costly or difficult to develop.

From bow to stern, Shell’s FLNG facility will be 488 m; longer than four football fields laid end to end. When fully equipped and with its storage tanks full, it will weigh around 600,000 tonnes – roughly six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier.

This is a gamechanger for the energy industry. The gas will be cooled by cold water pumped from ocean depths. Eight 1 m diameter pipes will extend to about 150 m below the ocean’s surface - allowing around 50,000 m³ of cold seawater each hour to cool the gas.

Permanently moored at sea, the facility has been designed to withstand the severest cyclones; those of Category 5. The sheer size of the full scale facility will help it withstand very high winds and giant waves.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/20052011/shell_to_build_world%E2%80%99s_largest_offshore_floating_facility/