History of Petronas Floating Liquefied Natural Gas

Firstly, before going to the history of Petronas Floating Liquefied Natural Gas
(FLNG) the term Liquefied Natural Gas need to be introduced. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
is cooled down natural gas. It is cooled down to liquid form to simplify the process of
transporting and controlling it. Next, move to the history of Petronas FLNG. Floating
Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) is a water based vessel designed to allow extraction of natural
gas resources from the seabed. It allows the natural gas extracted to be immediately treated.
FLNG vessels designed with equipment to facilitate the production, liquefaction, treatment
and storage of natural gas at sea.

The first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) in the world is the Petronas Floating
Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) named Petronas Floating LNG Facility (PFLNG 1) SATU
located at Kanowit gas field, offshore of Sarawak, Malaysia. Construction lead by
TechnicFMC under contract by Petronas which is a company where expert in liquefaction
with experience over 50 years. Also TechnicFMC has the most advance technologies in
cryogenic transfer and the world’s largest floating production storage and offloading
company is the most suited for this job. It is a very proud achievement for Malaysia to be the
first country to launch the first ever Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility. Owned
by Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), PFLNG SATU construction started on June 2013
and launched on 14 May 2016. With a capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG, it is
a very big vessel and with the treatment process on board, LNG is ready to be transported to
the market effectively. With a dual row cargo, PFLNG can store LNG efficiently as the
cryogenic storage tanks installed is tolerant to sloshing and any inertia effect within the hull.
As a major LNG player in the world, PFLNG SATU has secure Malaysia’s position as one of
the biggest LNG production. As the PETRONAS President and Group Chief Executive
Officer, Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said “This accomplishment effectively
demonstrates PETRONAS’ proven technology and capability of adapting a conventionally
land-based installation to a floating LNG facility, a game-changer in today’s LNG business
landscape. It is a testimony of our innovative solutions to meet the demands of our global
players”[ CITATION PET17 \l 17417 ]. As the energy demand globally is getting higher, this
approach is a high feat for the country.

The achievement chronology in construction of PFLNG SATU started at 2013 where

the hull steel cutting is started. Then on 2014, keel laying, hull launch and the lifting of first
module happened throughput that year. The last module testing is on 2015 followed by the
naming ceremony on 2016. The PFLNG is named PFLNG SATU and became the first ever
FLNG in the world. With PFLNG SATU occupied by 145 crew, the first cargo achieved is at
1 April 2017. The first cargo was fully loaded onto the carrier Seri Camellia and sailed to the
South Asian market. The PETRONAS President and Group Chief Executive Officer, Datuk
Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin added, PETRONAS continuously employs technology,
innovation and collaborative efforts to provide energy solutions at a pace which the industry
demands, and this successful first cargo milestone further bolsters our reputation as a reliable
and leading global LNG player and one-stop LNG solutions provider”[ CITATION PET17 \l
17417 ]. It is then relocated to Kebabangan gas field, offshore of Sabah, Malaysia on March
2019. The accomplishment on this further enhance the position of Malaysia in other country’s
eyes. Not to mention, the construction of Petronas FLNG DUA is underway and expected to
be launched on 2020 and will be located at Rotan Gas Field, Sabah. With the capacity of 1.5
million tonnes per annum, PGLNG DUA has high expectations from the country. This will
impact Malaysia as a LNG player globally.

Petro
nas Floating Liquefied Natural Gas SATU (PFLNG 1) as the first PFLNG in the world

Separating Techniques Implemented in PFLNG SATU

 As the request on natural gas is getting higher day by day, PFLNG SATU is one of
the most supplier of it. The production of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) on PFLNG SATU is
a very efficient approach on this case. Without needing to install pipelines to transport the
LNG, PFLNG SATU can bring the LNG straight to the market. The technology installed on
PFLNG SATU enables it to run natural gas treatment as soon as it is extracted from the
seabed. In this context, there is several separating techniques that used in treating the natural
gas to produce Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Before natural gas is processed in the treatment process, it needs to undergo pre-
treatment process. Pre-treatment process is a process where several components is separated
or more specific removed from the natural gas. These components are called contaminants,
they are removed due to the damage it can produce during the treatment process. There are
three main contaminants to be removed that is mercury, water and carbon dioxide.

Mercury is removed by using non-generable metal oxide guard bed. By locating the
guard bed at the upstream of the acid gas removal unit, it minimizes the mercury
contamination. In this procedure, adsorption process is applied. A film of adsorbate is created
on the surface of the adsorbent that is the guard bed. Mercury is discarded as it can cause
stress cracking in brazed aluminium heat exchangers in the cryogenic tanks. Removing
mercury also reduced the hazard that it can cause to people and environment.

Next is removing water, water is removed due to it can cause hydration and freezing
in the cryogenic tanks. In this case, molecular sieves are used to achieve low content of water
in LNG. Molecular sieves functions by adsorbing water molecules into the pores which has
the specific size of a molecule of water. As natural gas contains water and passed through the
molecular sieve columns, the high adsorption ability helps the water to be removed from the
gas stream due to the low concentration. This technique has been implemented for a long
time and its efficiency is very high in removing water from natural gas.

Lastly is the removal of carbon dioxide from natural gas. There are several techniques
that can be used to remove carbon dioxide from natural gas nowadays. On PFLNG SATU,
the technique implemented in discarding carbon dioxide is by amine absorption and another
one is by using membrane technology. Firstly, for the amine absorption process, carbon
dioxide is removed by absorbing it into amine solution. In this process, aqueous alkanolamine
solution is flowed to the natural gas in counter-current flow. These two fluid will be
contacted to each other in an absorber column. During this process, the amine solution will
react with the carbon dioxide forming a dissolved salt which leaving purified natural gas
leaving the absorber. This separating process applied is the absorption process. The reaction
happened between the two fluid makes the components inside a fluid to be absorbed thus
leaving the initial fluid stream to be purified. Secondly is the membrane technology. In
membrane technology, carbon dioxide is removed by filtering it using membranes.
Membrane vessels filters carbon dioxide from natural gas. This process described as the
permeability of each gas is different. Therefore, CO 2 selective membrane is used as in this
case carbon dioxide is needed to be filtered. Membrane technology is a very flexible system
as it is not affected by rocking motion or any inertia conditions as PFLNG SATU operates in
marine environments. The driving force for membrane separation is the partial pressure
differential between the feed side and the permeate side of the membrane for each gas
component. The reduced CO2 treated gas stream contains mostly slow-permeating
components and is at a pressure slightly lower than the feed. The downside of using
membrane technology is it requires a large membrane area. Therefore, membrane technology
is only used in removing bulk carbon dioxide. The importance of removing carbon dioxide is
to prevent freezing in the cryogenic tanks as the temperature is low there. Carbon dioxide
content in natural gas needs to be lowered until less than 50 parts per million by volume.
Challenges and Solutions during Petronas FLNG SATU Installation

Petronas Floating Liquefied Natural Gas SATU is a floating natural gas vessel which
has every facility on extracting, treating and delivering liquefied natural gas to the world. As
a place where functions as all in one, it is a farce if there is no challenges and difficulties
apprehended throughout the installation process. PFLNG SATU with a dimension of 365 m ×
60 m × 33 m, has 177,000 m3 size of LNG storage and 20,000 m3 size of condensate storage
is not easy to construct. With combined effort of engineers, architects and more professional,
PFLNG SATU is constructed and represent the first FLNG in the world. As it operates on the
sea, many aspects of construction designs and functions needs to be considered. Each and
every one possible hazard and risk is take into account in the construction. Therefore, as the
says goes ‘where there is a will, there is a way’, these challenges are apprehended and
overcome by brilliant solution with the wisdom of all professionals.

One of the challenges is the risk of fire and cryogenic. As FLNG processing natural
gas, temperature play an important role. Therefore, there is a risk where related to the
cryogenic tanks and fire can start. In this case, the risk of fire and cryogenic has been
analyses and it has been ensured that during the process is running, the probability of these
two threat are lower as possible. The engineering skills applied on the equipment and designs
of PFLNG SATU make sure that risks are as low as reasonably practicable.

Secondly is the exhaust dispersion and helldeck availability. Within this aspect, fluid
flows and the reaction of fluids are taken into account. Risk of helideck impairment by hot
plumes and release of pollutant that can pollute the environment can bring fatal results.
Therefore, all the possible hazard and risks has been analyze by performing computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) dispersion simulation. This simulation analyze risk and hazard using
numerical analysis and data structures involving fluid flows. With high speed
supercomputers, higher optimality of results is achieved and the difficulties are solved.

Lastly is the most challenging task that is to analyze the explosion risk may occur on
PFLNG SATU. Explosion may cause a huge damage plus with the PFLNG operates on sea
and carries a whole lot of natural gas that is very flammable, explosion hazard must be taken
priority over others. Equipment and process will be interrupted. The repair process can cost
months and maybe years. Therefore, to overcome this problem, numerous flammable gas
dispersion and explosion simulation has been inspected. Computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) simulation is run and the results were used fully and prioritize to derive and lower the
risk of explosion happens. The design also has been wonderfully planned to counter this
issue.

In addition, multiple safety measures have been taken into the construction of PFLNG
SATU. PFLNG SATU is installed with four fire blast walls around potentially fire zones that
is on the main deck, topsides process and utilities module. Other than that, escape routes and
safe gathering points as refuges has been sketch perfectly and practiced by the whole crew.
Three emergency blowdown zones and passive fire protection also installed other than
cryogenic spill protection and fire water system as basic and important safety measures in the
PFLNG. Apart from that, noise and vibration system also installed in the process. Extensive
noise and vibration is not a small problem as it also can cause hazard not only to equipment
but also to the surrounding. Therefore, noise and vibration system has been designed to keep
these levels within tolerance.
Advantages of FLNG Project

There are many advantages on the Floating Liquefied Natural Gas Project but the
most contribution of this project is on the economic benefits. As the demand on natural gas
supply is getting higher by year, FLNG allows natural gas to operates efficiently on
processing natural gas. FLNG fully manipulate the potential on reserving and delivering
natural gas quickly and economically as all the production process is run on the FLNG.
Unlike before, natural gas that is extracted needs to be transport to the facility where it can be
processed but now FLNG is a smaller and remote field where liquefied natural gas is
developed without any constrains of needing land-based facilities. Other than that, the FLNG
project has open many job opportunities to the world. In addition, the launching of PFLNG
DUA is upcoming and expected to create more job opportunities. This project not only give
benefit to the LNG market but also benefits graduates within the course.

Other than benefitting economically, FLNG project also helps in profiting the
environment. In this scope, FLNG is a floating-based vessel where contains the facilities in
producing LNG. Thus, it benefits by needing no land-based facilities to process LNG
anymore. Other than that, it also reduces the cost needed and environmental footprint
generated. The cost of processing natural gas is cut down as it does not need pipelines to
transport the natural gas and also does not require any onshore facilities. Carbon footprints is
the total carbon released to the environment as any activity executed and it is bad for the
environment. FLNG is a gas fired powered machinery and it produces half the amount of
carbon than coal powered machinery. It also released one-tenth of air pollutants compared to
coal powered machinery.
Conclusion

In conclusion, throughout the report there is so much interesting facts about Petronas
Floating Liquefied Natural Gas SATU. From the history and chronology of the construction
of the PFLNG SATU it shows that the journey is not an easy task. Numerous professionals
and experts are recruited in succeeding this project. Advanced technologies and an all in one
facilities described how skilful they are. Other than that, the separation techniques applied in
producing liquefied natural gas is very executive. Equipment and machinery installed in this
365-meter-long FLNG is enough to produce liquefied natural gas efficiently and deliver it to
the market. But never forget that behind all these advanced system and equipment installed, it
is all considered and simulated countless time in order to make it a perfect piece. Safety
measures are taken and risks are lowered. Safety is the hardest aspect needed to be handled
and the most challenging barrier above all. But there is no stopping the realists on making
their project successful, they pave their way in overcome these challenges with smart and
brilliant solution. Apart from that, the project also contributes many advantages to the world.
It is not only economically efficient but also environmentally systematic. To put in a nutshell,
the Petronas Floating Liquefied Natural Gas SATU Project is a very high achievement for the
country, Malaysia. Being the first FLNG in the world higher other countries respect to
Malaysia. This kind of feat deserve to be remembered for a long time for future youth as their
role model.