Tapping the potential of floating LNG

Jan. 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Organisations across the planet are slowly waking up to the possibilities presented by floating liquefied natural gas (LNG), which for many is currently an untapped revenue stream. Despite having significant potential, however, the majority of organisations in the oil and gas sector are still not benefiting from the opportunities presented by this emerging technology.

As floating LNG allows for the tapping of offshore gas reserves and access to stranded fields, and is an alternative to costly infrastructure investments, many expect interest in it to gain momentum in the coming years, and one of these is the Bermuda-based Teekay LNG Partners, the largest LNG tank owner in North America.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Peter Evensen, chief executive officer of the organisation, said that tankers which can convert liquid to gas onboard will be in "increasing demand" in the next ten years, mainly as a result of rising electricity production boosting consumption. He stated: "The biggest new thing in the LNG area is floating storage regas units. These are ships that cater for a sudden need for gas for power." According to Mr Evensen, the company has so far identified 30 different sites which may need floating LNG converters in the coming five years, and these range from global powerhouses such as China to Bangladesh and Indonesian islands.

The current head of the company's North American division is set to take over as parent company Teekay Corporation's chief executive in 2011 and said that during his tenure he will be seeking to expand the number of tankers being used across the planet. As the technology enables transportation by sea to markets not yet connected by pipelines, he said that the tankers effectively act as "import terminals", because they are capable of carrying LNG to these areas as liquid before converting it back to gas and sending it to local pipelines.

Companies utilising the technology find that the key benefits of doing so are unlocking offshore gas reserves, monetising stranded fields and bypassing expensive infrastructure, and Mr Evensen recognises that the likes of Dubai and Kuwait will also show interest in the next five years. "That's probably where you are going to see a lot of incremental traffic. We are also seeing more places that burn fuel oil start to switch over to gas," he told Bloomberg.

At the moment, the global LNG tanker fleet capable of converting LNG into gas consists of 15 vessels, and Teekay, which currently owns 15 LNG tankers without this capability, earlier this year confirmed that it had purchased a 50 per cent stake in one of these advanced carriers. However, the LNG chief executive said he is currently "pessimistic" about the state of US LNG exports, as costs are generally higher than in regions such as Qatar, mainly due to the time taken for the commodity to reach consumers. Nevertheless, companies such as Freeport LNG Development, Macquarie Group and Cheniere Energy have stated their intention to build LNG export terminals across the US.

Mr Evensen speculated: "Gas has a great future in the US, but I don't believe exporting gas from the US has a great future." "Today you have Qatar, Malaysia, and Indonesia exporting LNG, but the one that's going to be huge in the future is Australia. There is going to be plenty of gas even before you take into account new LNG projects in Africa." In terms of the distances which need to be travelled, he said that it is "clearly" less expensive to bring gas from the Australasian countries and Indonesia to the major LNG import markets, which include China, Japan and Korea.

One thing is clear, however, the global floating LNG market will continue to grow in the next ten years and organisations which have the knowledge and expertise to assess the business case for investing in the technology will be the ones who benefit the most.

The current trends in Floating LNG development will be discussed in more detail at the 2011 Global Floating LNG Summit which is focused on providing operator led, in-depth analysis of the current issues and how they can be overcome. It will be hosted from 24th - 26th January in London. More details about the agenda and speaker panel can be found here: globalflngsummit.com.

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Note to editors: for further information about the Global Floating LNG Summit see globalflngsummit.com.

The Global Floating LNG Summit offers operator led case studies and discussions, insights on the only FLNG projects on the market right now, a cutting edge analysis on optimum FLNG vessel design and technology solutions, advise on implementation strategies for successful FLNG projects and brings together global decision makers and key solution providers.

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