COMMERCIAL AND TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENTS OF OFFSHORE LIQUEFACTION PLANT

Offshore LNG plants that liquefy natural gas in order to avoid flaring are getting more attractive in the current market of clean energy. It will become more attractive in the future as the reserves of the natural gas offshore will provide more LNG. As the offshore production of LNG is the natural extension of the offshore oil production, the developments of the offshore LNG plants will be inevitable. However, there are areas of commercial and technical challenge and considerations that need to be addressed during the development of these projects. The risks in the commercial arena may be more complicated than those of the LNG plants. Major challenges will require addressing commercial concerns of the host government, the LNG buyers and the lenders. There are issues concerning the ownerships of the offshore facilities, the local employment and content, domestic gas use and spin-off industrial development. This paper will elaborate and discuss means to resolve these problems to avoid both the commercial and political concerns for the offshore liquefaction projects. On the technical aspects, the considerations surround the developments of technologies for both the liquefaction process and equipment, the effects of motion, the transfer of LNG from th