First producing FLNG arrives in Malaysia

The world’s first producing full-scale FLNG vessel arrived at the Kanowit offshore gasfield in Malaysia, the company reported on social media on Wednesday.

Petronas’ PFLNG Satu left Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company’s shipyard in Okpo, South Korea, on May 14. Construction began with steel cutting in June 2013.

The massive vessel has a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year of LNG and is able to operate in depths of around 70-183 metres. It is intended for use on smaller oilfields that are not worth connecting to onshore assets by pipeline.

Monetising offshore assets with the ship may not yet be in the cards for Malaysia’s Petronas due to low oil prices impeding production. “If the oil prices traded above USD 70 per barrel, [PFLNG Satu] would see a double-digit internal rate of return. But, at the current oil prices, it is challenging to estimate the return,” said Datuk Abdullah Karim, Petronas vice-president and LNG project director, at a panel last year.