FLOATING STORAGE AND

REGASIFICATION UNIT (FSRU) FOR

OFFSHORE LNG TERMINAL

Introduction
The worlds energy demand is growing much more rapidly than the energy industry
supply. With the worlds diminishing energy resources coupled with a growing
awareness of the need to protect the environment, alternative resources are being
investigated by the energy industry Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is one of the
alternatives being explored.
The conflicting demand for more energy and cleaner environment presented a complex
problem. Natural gas alone among fuels currently available in large exportable quantities,
promises to solve both, hence it has become a glamour fuel.

Many areas worldwide such as North America and Europe are experiencing a decline in
gas supplies due to a decrease in gas production. This decrease in production is occurring
because the gas sources are no longer able to sustain the current production level. As a
result, other sources of gas production are being examined. Natural gas is rapidly
becoming the fuel of choice for todays industry. It burns cleaner; hence, it creates
significantly less pollution than many other forms of energy. That fact is important to
todays society because it is becoming much more environmentally concerned than
before. Another positive aspect of natural gas is the decrease in production cost in the
future with each advancement in technology.
The natural gas industry is growing at a swift pace all over the globe. The proven
reserves worldwide have recently surpassed those of oil, and gas consumption is expected
to exceed that of oil by the year 2020. New natural gas fields are discovered practically
everyday. The proven reserves have, indeed, grown steadily since 1980, and the total at
this time places supply above expected demand. The problem, therefore, does not reside
in finding gas but in establishing systems to transport it to the consumption points. That
explains why Liquefied Natural Gas traffic is growing at an annual rate of 10%.

When the natural gas supply and the intended consumer are reasonably close, pipelines
can be used for transporting the gas. However, as most of the worlds gas supply is in
remote areas, shipboard carriage is the only alternative.

Recent advancements in technology have given energy companies the ability to transport
and deliver LNG long distances, and because of the impending energy shortage, federal
regulatory agencies have relaxed the constraints that have been imposed in recent years
on granting offshore construction permits in relation to LNG terminals. These terminals
will help in the delivery of LNG to onshore locations via an infrastructure of sub-sea
pipelines and other alternative.

What is LNG?
Natural gas when chilled to -162o C at a normal pressure, condenses into a liquid
reducing its volume to approximately 1/600 and this liquid is called Liquefied Natural
Gas (LNG).It is clear, colorless, cryogenic and odorless liquid having a weight about half
that of water of the same volume. LNG consists of several hydrocarbons. Its main
component is Methane, the rest being Ethane, Propane, Butane and Pentane. Nitrogen,
which is usually found in natural gas, is also dissolved in LNG. The composition of
hydrocarbons components of LNG determines the actual density or specific gravity and
also the higher calorific value of resultant LNG.

Properties of LNG

Extremely low temperature: minus 260F (minus 162C).

LNG will float on water - Specific gravity of LNG is about 0.45. - Slightly less
than half that of water.

Odorless and colorless - LNG looks like boiling water. When exposed to
atmospheric temperatures and pressure, it vaporizes to about 600 times its liquid
volume.

Nontoxic, Non-corrosive.

Vapour Dissipation - As the vapour warms to minus 160F (minus 107C); it

becomes lighter than air and will dissipate. The natural gas vaporized from LNG
can cause asphyxiation in an unventilated confinement.

Explosion limit of LNG: 5 to 15%.

Minimum ignition energy: 0.28 mJ.

Latent heat of vaporization: 510 kJ/kg.

World Natural Gas Reserves

The EIA in conjunction with the Oil and Gas Journal and World Oil publications,
estimates worldwide natural gas reserves to be around 5,210.8 Tcf. As can be seen from
the graph, most of these reserves are located in the Middle East with 1,836.2 Tcf or 34
percent of the world total, and Europe and the former U.S.S.R. with 2158.7 or 42 percent
of total world reserves.
Most of the natural gas that is found in North America is concentrated in relatively
distinct geographical areas, or basins. Given this distribution of natural gas
deposits, those states which are located on top of a major basin have the highest
level of natural gas reserves. As can be seen from the map below, U.S. natural
gas reserves are very concentrated around Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.

Uses of Natural Gas

For hundreds of years, natural gas has been known as a very useful substance. The
Chinese discovered very long time ago that the energy in natural gas could be harnessed
and used to heat water. In the early days of the natural gas industry, the gas was mainly
used to light streetlamps and the occasional house. However with much improved
distribution channels and technological advancements, natural gas is being used in ways
never thought possible.

There are so many different applications for this fossil fuel that it is hard to provide an
exhaustive list of everything it is used for. And no doubt new uses are being discovered
all the time. Natural gas has many applications, commercially, in your home, in industry,
and even in the transportation sector! While the uses described here are not exhaustive,
they may help to show just how many things natural gas can do.

According to the Energy Information Administration, energy from natural gas accounts
for 24 percent of total energy consumed in the United States, making it a vital component
of the nation's energy supply.

Natural gas is used across all sectors, in varying amounts. The pie-chart above gives an
idea of the proportion of natural gas used per sector. The industrial sector accounts for the
greatest proportion of natural gas use in the World, with the residential sector consuming
the second greatest quantity of natural gas.

Objective
The scope of the technical paper is to complete the front-end design concept of a floating
LNG receiving terminal and its technology. The design must be able to operate in water
and also be able to regasify, as well as be able to store the LNG tankers entire supply.

The location of Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) is to be at Niger delta
region off the coast of West Africa, where the design has to face the following constrains

Design constrains
The terminal is required to satisfy regulations as set forth by the American Bureau of
Shipping (ABS) and the American Petroleum Institute (API), as well as design
constraints imposed by owner concerning operational expectations.

Such constraints consisted of the following

Will be permanently moored in 40 m of water

Must be able to process 1 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas per day
3

Must have a storage capacity of 330,000 m of LNG

Must maintain a constant draft condition while loading or offloading
Must sustain offloading operations in a 1-year storm event
Must sustain shoreline delivery of LNG in a 10-year storm event

Environmental conditions
Wind: Figure 2 represents the directional distribution of wind speed with the top of the
figure being true north. This figure suggests that majority of the wind comes from the
southwest.

figure-2
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Wave: The shoaled wave characteristics can be found in Table 1.

Table 1 Shoaled Wave Characteristics
Significant wave height H at 25 m depth (m) 3.20
Significant wave height H at 40 m depth (m) 2.54
Peak period T (s)
15.50
Wavelength L at 25 m depth (m)
236.03
Wavelength L at 40 m depth (m)
375.30

The significant wave height at the given site is 2.54 meters with a period of 15.5 seconds.
The corresponding wavelengths at this location are 236.03 and 375.3 meters.
Figure 3 contains a large amount of relevant data. This figure shows a correlation
between the directions of the prominent winds and waves. From this figure it can be
concluded that the larger period waves and the waves with the highest significant wave
heights all seem to be propagating from the same direction, southwest. This correlates
with the wind data in Figure 2.

Figure 3
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Current
Figure 4 shows the current direction and intensity distribution. It should be noted that the
current seems to have a tendency to have opposing directions from the surface to the
bottom on the original data.
The terminal is oriented so that the bow is facing southwest. Because the current
distribution is independent of the wind and wave forces, analysis using Mimosa and Stab
Cad was used to determine how much of an effect the current has on the beam of the
terminal.
Table 2 Current Characteristics
Current velocity at surface (m/s)
Current velocity at 25 % of site depth (m/s)
Current velocity at 75 % of site depth (m/s)
Current velocity at sea floor (m/s)

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.5

Figure 4

Competency Areas
The final design of the offshore LNG terminal must satisfy design requirements in five
general competency areas:
1. regulatory compliance
2. general arrangement and overall hull/system design
3. weight, buoyancy, and stability
4. global loading
5. mooring/station keeping

Regulatory Compliance
The design must meet classification guidelines from several public, private, and
international regulatory agencies. API and ABS are the two primary codes that are
focused on for this project. The following constraints and regulations from the American
Bureau of Shipping can be found in both Guide for Building and Classing Facilities on
Offshore Installations (a) and Guide for Building and Classing Floating Production
Installations (b).
The design must have a safety system that meets ABS requirements. The system must
include safety sensors and self-acting devices in case of over-pressuring or to simply
maintain normal process parameters. A pressure relief system must be built, according
to API 14C code, to prevent catastrophic failure. The safety system is also required to
have a fire and gas detection system as well as a process Emergency Shutdown system
(ESO).
Locations of flares and vents are dependent on the directions of the winds, which follow
the API building code. Atmospheric conditions, heat radiation from elevated flares,
atmospheric discharge, and other parameters will need to be examined further before
their construction can begin
In case of a spill, there are also guidelines to follow. Natural gas compressors and pumps

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must be built in accordance with ABS codes. Compressors are to apply with applicable
API standards. The flow lines and manifolds, used to transport either gas or liquid, have
to follow API standards. Certain sections of the pipeline may have to be isolated with
block valves or filled with cold liquid in order to protect them from solar fires.

Alarm systems should comply with the following ABS standards.

The alarm system should have built in testing systems that do not disturb the normal
operating system. This ensures safety systems will be totally independent from the
main system in case of a failure or emergency situations. There will be stations where
certain actions will be taken if a failure does occur. There should be an emergency
shutdown system which takes place with in 45 seconds or less after the detection of
a trouble condition. There needs to be at least 2 emergency control stations. There
locations must also follow standards design code.
Detectors (fire, gas and smoke), alarm panels, detection wiring and general alarm
systems should comply with codes. For the safety of personnel there should be means
of escape in which the escape route is in accordance with ABS. At least two escape
routes must be designed and the escape route plan should be displayed at various
points in the facility
There must be at least four buoys, one life jacket per person, one work vest per
person, and a breathing apparatus for each person. In addition, everybody on the
terminal should have a firemans outfit so as to meet requirements of SOLAS.
Surfaces that are at risk of becoming extremely hot must be insulated for personnel
protection, spillage protection and combustible gases.

General Arrangement and Overall Hull/System Design

In the initial studies all types of floating facilities were considered which are currently in
use throughout the world. However, the relatively shallow location of the proposed site at
40 meters depth negates several possibilities. For example, a SPAR platform is only
suitable for deep-water conditions, so the design is not feasible in this case. The same

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holds true for tension-leg platforms (TLPs) and mini-TLPs, because the shallow depth
makes these types of structures impractical. Although the large pontoons on a semisubmersible would be advantageous with regards to storage capacity, the draft required to
keep the pontoons fully submerged would mean that the entire platform would be resting
on the sea floor. Thus possible designs were narrowed down to a manageable number
with little or no computations required.
The two alternatives remaining were to design either a ship-shape barge or a completely
new design. The following section will show the two initial concept designs plus a third
concept showing a different mooring scheme for one of the base designs. The final design
was selected, and the modifications to this design are discussed.

1 Ship Shape Barge with Spherical Tanks

Figure: Ship-Shape Barge with Turret Mooring

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The dimensions of this vessel are 350m in length, 90m in width and 35m in height. This
design supports three LNG storage tanks, each 60m in diameter. This dimension enables
approximately 339,000 cubic meters of storage. Crew accommodations are placed
farthest away from the Regasification unit to comply with regulatory safety standards.
For additional security a blast wall is attached to the bow side of the crew
accommodations. Cranes are located at the bow and stern of the vessel. Due to limited
deck space, six open rack vaporizers are stacked three on three with a three-meter
clearance below and above each vaporizer. This design also included a submerged
combustion vaporizer. Boil off Gas (BOG) compressors are located on the port side while
diesel storage tanks and power generators are located on the starboard side. Offloading
processes are designed to take place on the starboard side of the vessel. This vessel is
designed to be turret moored, allowing it to weather vane. This design also
accommodates for instruments such as seawater pumps, LNG booster pumps, a control
substation, and a potable and auxiliary water unit.
2 Catamaran Hull with SPB Tanks

Figure: Catamaran Hull with Spread Mooring

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This design combines the stability of a semi-submersible with the storage capacity and
shallow draft of an oil-based FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading). The
deck is two hundred meters square, with two outrigger hulls beneath. The hulls are 200
meters long, 60 meters wide and 25 meters high. These twin hulls are hollow to allow for
four semi-prismatic LNG storage tanks (two per hull), each approximately 75 meters
long, 50 meters wide, and 22 meters high. The total volume of all four tanks will exactly
satisfy the design constraint of 330,000 cubic meters of LNG storage, while still allowing
room in the hulls for two ballast tanks per hull to aid in leveling and stability of the
platform. When full, the weight of the LNG in the tanks would increase the draft of the
platform by approximately 5.8 meters.
It was also considered to use four Moss spherical tanks instead of four SPB tanks.
However, it soon became apparent that since each sphere would have to be about 55
meters in diameter, the large footprint of the tanks on the main tank (in addition to the
footprint of the Regasification plant itself) would leave little deck space for the safe
placement of the living quarters away from dangerous areas (i.e. between two of the tanks
on one side, etc.). It must also be noted that at the placement of topside structures for the
catamaran hull is problematic, as the spherical tank design suffers from a lack of deck
space and the SPB tank design suffers from an overabundance of deck space. This
particular design tests the feasibility of a spread-mooring configuration, with three
mooring lines at each of the four corners. LNG carriers arriving at the terminal would
offload their LNG by berthing along the side of the terminal, parallel to the long side of
the deck.
3. Catamaran Hull with Single-Point Mooring
The third design considered is the same catamaran hull with a similar deck and storage
tank configuration, but with a turret-mooring system instead of a spread-mooring system.
This would allow the entire platform to weathervane in response to changing weather
conditions. The turret is also placed so that when the platform reaches a stable position,
the cross-section of the platform exposed to wind and wave forces is at a minimum. This
configuration uses side offloading for arriving LNG carriers, with the carrier berthing

14

parallel to the side of the platform and its bow facing into the wind. A tandem
configuration would not be practical for this design because the wake vortices from the
twin hulls would interact with each other near the exact location of the berthed carrier,
which would not be a recommended service condition for either the carrier or the
terminal.

Figure: Catamaran Hull with Single-Point Mooring

Design
Catamaran
Hull

Ship Shape
Barge

Advantages

Disadvantages

Innovative design

Inability to align itself to weather conditions (short

moment arm) spread mooring only

Ample deck space

Wide hull width required to accommodate SPB tanks

Low center of gravity

Large frontal area exposed to wind

Inherent stability in
roll/pitch/yaw conditions

Difficulty in construction (two shipyards required)

Shallow draft

Fatigue and bending stresses on centerline of main

deck between hulls

Well-established and proven

design

Limited deck space

Flexibility in selecting mooring

systems

Constructability constraint (length and width of hull)

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Final selection
After assessing feedback from industry representatives, and progress reports, it was
decided to utilize the positive attributes associated with the first two designs and combine
them into the final design selection. In minimizing the environmental forces that the
vessel would experience, it was decided to use the ship-shape barge but limit its size for
competitive construction bidding. This in turn led to exploring different types of LNG
containment systems available on the market. Like the catamaran design, it was proposed
to contain the LNG within the hull of the vessel as to maximize the deck space for
equipment. Also, a spread mooring system would be utilized due to the environmental
conditions and the water depth.

Manufacturisation
The selection of the shipyard in which to build the proposed facility is of vital
importance, as the production costs are directly tied to the market conditions within the
shipbuilding industry. Fortunately, several of the larger shipyards have websites with
information for potential clients which aided in shipyard selection.

The manufacturability of the FSRU design itself is also of paramount importance. In

order to keep construction costs down, it was necessary to limit the dimensions of the
terminals hull to a reasonable trade off between the breadth and length. In this case, the
hull is designed to optimize the storage capacity of the LNG by holding the breadth
within a specific range and the length being varied to achieve the specified storage
requirements. This approach has two benefits associated with it. First it allows for
competitive pricing between the shipyards. An overly wide breadth in the design would
mean that only a small number of shipyards would be large enough to build the vessel,
ultimately driving up the cost of construction because the shipyard would be free to
dictate a price to the company as a result of market forces, instead of competing with
equally-capable shipyards for the contract. Secondly, it reduces any potential scheduling

16

conflicts, keeping the project on time. If for any reason the shipyard was unable to
complete construction of the facility, a narrower design could be relocated to another
shipyard instead of being locked into a single yard.
Final Dimensions
Length between perpendiculars (LBP) 340m
Breadth 65m
Molded depth 33m

Figure 5 Bow View of Selected Design

Figure 6 Beam View of Selected Design

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One of the goals was to limit the vessels beam to within 60m-70m to allow for a variety
of options in terms of shipyard selection and pricing which was achieved by increasing
length as written above. With the terminals breadth a major concern, the LNG tanks
drove the rest of the dimensions. Figure 5 and Figure 6 shows the bow and beam views of
the final structure respectively.
3

With these dimensions defined, it became possible to contain the entire 330,000m of
LNG storage within the hull structure. This allowed for ample space for processing
equipment as well as safety for crew members to perform daily operations.

Five semi-prismatic type B (SPB) tanks were selected for the LNG containment. SPB
tanks are advantageous in that they are independent from the hull structure and the
geometry of the tanks can be designed to conform to the hulls final shape. The ballast
tanks were designed as five adjacent J-tanks on each side of the terminal, for a total of ten
tanks. A double-hull layout was a direct effect of this ballast configuration, which
optimized the safety of the terminal as well as complying with ABS steel vessel design
guidelines. The offloading system selected for the terminal is a series of four In-Air
Flexible offloading mechanisms designed by Technip-Coflexip. This system was
selected because of the internal flexibility of the hoses and the added range of
displacement within the support booms. The possibility exists that these mechanisms will
not be available from Technip-Coflexip upon project completion; therefore, a
contingency design using conventional mechanical arms designed by FMC has been
considered. The mechanical arms have a smaller overall range of displacement, requiring
more stringent design constraints and thus giving the team versatility in using either
offloading system without a significant redesign or reanalysis.

Weight, Buoyancy and Stability

The shallow water at the site location dictates that the draft of the vessel must be
established early in the design process to ensure that the vessel floats with enough
distance between the keel and the sea floor to allow for the mooring and to prevent

18

slamming against the bottom in extreme weather events. To this end, a spreadsheet was
developed to calculate the lightship weight of the vessel, including the weight of the hull
itself, the LNG tanks, the topsides, and miscellaneous utility weights.
This spreadsheet allows optimization of the overall dimensions of the vessel as well as
more specific parameters such as the spacing between LNG tanks and the ballast tank
dimensions. Once the dimensions were finalized, the weight of the vessel was calculated.
A unit area mass of 405 kilograms per square meter was multiplied by the total surface
area of all the steel components within the vessel to arrive at the estimated lightship mass.
It must be stressed, however, that this unit area mass is an estimate that takes into account
the actual plate thickness as well as a lump estimate of the weights of the structural
elements (beams, girders, keel, etc) that hold the plates together. A more precise
measurement of the total mass can be obtained once the detailed structural engineering
design is complete, but this estimated value is an extremely useful approximation for
front-end engineering analysis. The masses of each component of the terminal are shown
in Table 6 below.
Table 6 Masses of Terminal Components (Lightship)
Item
Hull
LNG tanks
Ballast tanks
Topsides
Mooring lines
Confidence (15%)
TOTAL

Mass (mt)
29,668
23,334
13,733
12,600
581
11,900
91,235

The terminal was then analyzed in both the loaded and unloaded conditions to determine
the terminals center of mass and draft in each case. To maintain a constant draft, the
loaded condition is defined as full LNG tanks and empty ballast tanks, and the unloaded
condition is defined as empty LNG tanks and full ballast tanks. The results of this
analysis are summarized in Table 7 below. The draft of the vessel was calculated to be
roughly 11.58 meters, which is well within an acceptable range for this particular site
depth.

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Table 7 Centers of Mass and Drafts in Loaded/Unloaded Conditions

KG (m)
Draft (m)

Loaded
17.4
11.6

Unloaded
17.0
11.6

Global Loading
Global loading of the ship was taken into account to determine if the ship would be able
to sustain all the vertical loads that are applied to it, including the weight of the vessel,
topside weights, weight of the LNG onboard, and buoyancy. In a real-world scenario, the
three environmental forces from wind, waves and currents are hitting the bow at different
angles; however for the purposes of a conservative engineering estimate, all three forces
are assumed to be horizontal, hitting perpendicular to the bow. Figure 7 shows the loads
from the topside structures along the longitudinal axis.

Figure 7 Topside Loading

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Mooring/Station Keeping
Since the regasified LNG must be piped to market, it is necessary for the facility to not
offset more than what the flexible connections to the pipeline can handle. According to
API codes this amount for shallow water is between 15 and 25% of the water depth. In
actual distance, this would translate to offsets ranging from 6 to 10 m for this facilities
depth of 40 m. The above requirements are used for what is called the maximum
operating condition. With this in mind, the maximum operating condition is the condition
that still allows the facility to send gas to shore, which in this case is the 10 year storm

event. The facility must also be able to survive a 100 year storm event. During the 100
year storm event the mooring system is not only required to not fail but certain API
requirements for loading and offset must be checked. In the case where the system is
fully intact the most loaded line tension must not exceed 60% of the breaking strength of
the line (API 1995). During the damaged case when the most loaded line is broken the
second most loaded line tension must not exceed 80% of the breaking strength (API
1995).
There are several factors for deciding what type of mooring system to have. Some of
these factors are the soil composition of the sea floor, the directionality of the
environmental data, the types of loading and unloading procedures to and from the
facility, and cost of the system. The sea bottom at this particular site is soft sand so a taut
type mooring system is out of the question. This leaves only the option of the catenary
style mooring system. Once the leg type was decided the next step is to decide if there is
directionality to the environmental data. This influenced the decision between a turret and
a spread moored system. Spread moored systems are typically utilized when the
environment predominately is generated in certain directions. Due in large part to the
directionality of the environment in the West Africa area the spread moored system was
decided on rather than a turret moored system. Along with the system being spread
moored, the bow will face towards the 225 degree direction relative to true north.
Since the system is a catenary spread moored system, the next step is to design how many
legs (lines) in the system, what their layout is, what their length is, and what diameter

21

size of chain should be used to satisfy the API codes stated above. A 12 line system was
chosen for the initial design due in part to its safety factor and large restoring force.
Figure 8 shows the initial layout of the proposed system.

Figure 8 Horizontal Layout of Mooring Lines

These lines are separated into 4 different legs, with a leg extending off the facility at the
four corners at an angle of 45 degrees off of the longitudinal axis. This angle is the angle
of the center line, with the other two lines being spaced at 5 degrees off of the center
line. The first chain size analyzed was the 5 inch chain. In the table below the
characteristics of different chains being considered can be compared.
Size
(in)
5
4.5
4

Size
(m)
0.127
0.1143
0.1016

Weight in water
Breaking Strength
(kN/n)
(kN)
3.465
14,980
2.445
12,440
1.932
7,811
Table 8 Chain Characteristic

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Marine arms for cryogenic service

Loading systems for low temperature and cryogenic service are normally double
counter weighted marine arm design. LNG is currently being transferred between ship
and onshore storage exclusively via fixed articulated loading arms. These arms
incorporate swivel joints to accommodate the relative motion between the stationary
block and the buoyant LNG ship.

Flexible hose loading concept

To be acceptable, a loading system using flexible hose must meet the following
criteria:

The loading system must be easily acceptable to existing LNG ship designs

The system must be robust and highly reliable

The cryogenic hose must not be a limiting factor due to weather or

environmental condition

23

The service of the hose must be sufficiently long to avoid continual

replacement of worn hose

The hose must meet all the applicable standards and must be certified

The system should be cost competitive

24

Hose selection
There are basically two types of flexible hose used for LNG transfer:

A composite hose consisting of layers of polymer fabric and film bound with
stainless wire for integrity

Corrugated stainless steel hose

Composite hoses have been used for offshore loading of cryogenic liquid in sizes up
to 20 inches.

The hose construction consists of multilayer of polyester fabric and polymer film
sandwiched between the inner and outer stainless steel wire built on a mandrel with
integral flanged end fittings. The purpose of polymeric film is to provide a leak free
seal within a hose body and the labyrinth construction of the film packs offer a
significant contribution to the axial strength of the hose.

The completed hose is lagged with polypropylene rope to provide additional scuff
protection for the outer wire and hose carcass.

Marine arm accessories

The cryogenic loading systems are available with hydraulic assist for larger arms. One
of the important types of marine arm is the RCMA (Rotart Counter Marine Arm).It is
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