ABS Evaluating New Floating Offshore Gas Concept

ABS has seen increased interest in floating solutions for the transportation of natural gas.

Teekay Corporation has selected class society ABS to provide its technical evaluation to the basic design concept of a floating offshore gas liquefaction unit. The contract calls for review through to front end engineering and design (FEED) with the award of ABS classification to the facilities once a suitable project has been confirmed.

The LNG/LPG liquefaction facility's topsides process is being designed by Mustang Engineering of Houston. Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) of Korea will design and construct the hull for the floating LNG vessel. Initial design concepts call for the unit to have a combined storage capacity for LNG and LPG in excess of 200,000m3. The containment system has not yet been selected and will be greatly determined by the site specific conditions.

Commenting on the approach of integrating processing facilities into the design of a floating concept, Mark Kremin, Vice President of Teekay Gas Services said, "ABS allows for the evaluation of appropriate technologies to optimize reliability and flexibility for the LNG or LPG transfer offshore."

ABS has previously classed the only LNG carriers to use the SPB containment system, and also classed the first LPG Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) unit newbuild, the Escravos, and the first LPG Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit newbuild, the Sanha, both operating offshore Angola.

ABS has seen a resurgence of interest in floating solutions for the transportation of natural gas. By pioneering the use of risk-based approaches to develp Rules for new designs and novel concepts, ABS has been able to validate novel ship and gas containment and transport designs such as the one proposed by Teekay.

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