Petronas has two such projects under construction – the 1.2 million-tonnes-per-annum PFLNG1 and the 1.5 million-mtpa PFLNG2 – while Shell’s 3.6 mtpa Prelude FLNG is also well advanced.

A further 43 mtpa of floating capacity had been touted to come into operation by 2020.

"The first glimpses if this [slowing] dynamic emerged in late 2014 when development of the 8 million tpa project in Lavaca Bay, Texas, was put on hold," the IGU said in its 2015 World LNG Report.

"In