Black & Veatch will provide technology and services for the world’s first Floating LNG Liquefaction, Regasification and Storage Unit called EXMAR EXPORT™. It will be a non-propelled barge moored to a jetty, supplied with gas by pipeline from the onshore La Creciente field, located in the Lower Magdalena Valley Basin in Colombia.
Black & Veatch has been a pioneer in the LNG industry since the 1960s and will provide engineering and procurement for topside liquefaction equipment and packages using its patented PRICO® LNG technology. Black & Veatch will also provide on-site commissioning and startup services.
Once the EXPORT™ has been built, it will be towed from China to Colombia where it will be owned and operated by EXMAR for Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation. The EXPORT™ will be located off the coast of Colombia. It will begin production at the end of 2014 giving the country greater access to global LNG import and export markets.
Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd (Wison) will deliver the overall engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning to EXMAR. Headquartered in Shanghai, Wison will construct the facility through its wholly-owned fabrication facility in Nantong, China. A global Black & Veatch team working from offices in several countries will be supporting Wison on this project.
“The rise of LNG is being driven by a surge in demand for alternative cleaner fuel in China and Japan in particular. The global LNG trade increased by 14 percent in 2011 alone*,” said Dr. Hoe Wai Cheong, Managing Director, Asia and MEIEA regions, Black & Veatch’s global energy business. “What we’re now seeing is a race to provide viable solutions that enable the entire LNG processing value chain to be based offshore closer to production wellheads. This is a smarter, faster way to gain market access over similar, previously proposed projects and it can be redeployed rapidly to other field locations when required. It will also have a positive effect on the lives of people in the surrounding region, enabling the delivery of a clean, combustible fuel alternative.”
Black & Veatch previously completed the front-end engineering design for EXMAR’s EXPORT™ LNG in 2011. The company has worked with EXMAR since 2008 in an alliance arrangement to develop floating LNG solutions.
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Editor’s Notes:
- * Source: Resources and Energy Quarterly, March 2012, Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, Australian Government
- The EXPORT™ consists of a non-propelled barge equipped to convert 72 million scf/d of natural gas into LNG (+/- 500,000 tons of LNG per annum) that will be temporarily stored in onboard tanks with a total capacity of 14,000m3 and subsequently offloaded either to a permanently-moored floating storage unit or shuttle tankers.
- Black & Veatch has developed 23 operating LNG production facilities globally with 18 of those facilities based on the company’s PRICO® LNG technology.
- Since the early 1960s, Black & Veatch has been involved in the production of over 140 MM tons of LNG through a number of global LNG facilities. The company has an additional 14 LNG projects in development at this time.
- PRICO® is an innovative process developed by Black & Veatch to liquefy natural gas, making it available for transport via truck or ocean tanker. The process uses a Black & Veatch-patented, single-mixed refrigerant loop for natural gas liquefaction. The process provides several key advantages, including:
- A simplified refrigeration system that requires minimal equipment and a compact process makes it ideal for offshore liquefaction
- Low capital and operating expenditure
- Simplified control and maintenance
- The PRICO® process is used in LNG production facilities worldwide because of its flexibility for LNG capacity and in feed gas composition. This flexibility is invaluable for clients because they receive natural gas from multiple sources with varying composition and conditions.
- In China, Black & Veatch, in partnership with Chemtex, has won 14 projects since 2006, five in 2011 alone. Black & Veatch has safely started up and put six plants into operation to date in some of the most remote areas of the country.
- The complete facility, including process systems, will be designed and constructed in compliance with the relevant rules and regulations of an internationally recognized Classification Society.
Please click here to download a high-resolution rendering of the EXMAR’s EXPORT™.
About Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch is an employee-owned, global leader in building Critical Human Infrastructure™ in Energy, Water, Telecommunications and Government Services. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries through consulting, engineering, construction, operations and program management. Our revenues in 2011 were US$2.6 billion. Follow us on social media.
About Wison Offshore & Marine
Wison Offshore & Marine is the upstream oil and gas division of the Wison Group. The company’s services cover the full life cycle of project delivery, from facility design and engineering, to project management, construction, commissioning and operations. This expertise can be applied to all types of oil and gas developments including fixed platforms and modules, marine and offshore support vessels, mooring systems, offshore lifting equipment, and complete floating production and drilling systems such as TLPs, Spars, Semisubmersibles, and floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. Wison Offshore & Marine is capable of executing engineering and design activities out of its headquarters in Shanghai, China, as well as Houston, Texas, USA, and perform fabrication of facilities from its two world-class yards in Nantong and Zhoushan, China. Learn more about Wison Offshore & Marine at www.wison.com/en or call (281) 676-2650.
About Exmar
EXMAR, headquartered in Antwerp, is a diversified and independent shipping group serving the international gas and oil industry. Apart from providing the ships for the transportation of these products, it also performs studies and undertakes commercial, technical and administrative management activities for the oil and gas industry. EXMAR strives to create shareholder value over the long term by balancing long- and short-term agreements to counteract volatility in the freight market, combined with providing services that are tailored to the needs of the customer. EXMAR is quoted on Euronext Brussels (EXM). www.exmar.be
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