Cost Optimized Solutions for Near Shore FLNG

Abstract Offshore development project are facing significant challenges from current market environment. Due to current low price of oil and gas, the development of natural reservoirs on offshore may not be attractive. However, the demand of natural gas will gradually increase because natural gas is relatively clean source comparing to the other fossil fuels and the demand of clean energy is growing due to environmental change. In this regards, Near Shore FLNG is becoming one of the most economical solutions as the unit is equipped with essential liquefaction process, storage as well as offloading facility. That is, comparing to typical deepwater FLNG application, expensive components are not required such as the turret, complex pre-treatment system and self-generation of utilities, plus logistics such as refrigerant supply are better. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the optimized process of Nearshore FLNG system comparing typical FLNG. To illustrate the optimized process, at first, target area is defined as North America. The reason why North America is selected is because of the potential of future projects and shale gas revolution. The gas composition is defined by reviewing 1,200 shale gas reservoirs in North America and considering the hydrocarbon gas is typical pipeline gas which needs to meet Pipeline Gas Spec requirement. Topside process is reviewed to find optimized options and process model has been built to check feasibility. Analysis is made on several technical optimized options as below. Optimized Liquefaction systemOptimized Condensate SystemRemove Deethanizer and Ethane make up columnOptimized Heating Medium systemOptimized Produced Water Treatment System Finally, this paper provides several options with reducing several facilities and optimizing process which will reduce CAPEX/OPEX.