Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas has achieved another world first with the production of liquefied natural gas from a second location by its redeployed floating LNG vessel PFLNG Satu, writes Amanda Battersby.

The first drop of LNG was produced on 7 May just three days after start-up activities including cooling down began on Kebabangan Petroleum Operating Company’s (KPOC), Kebabangan Cluster field 90 kilometres off Sabah, East Malaysia.

First gas was introduced in the FLNG vessel on 4 May via a five-kilometre flexible pipeline.

Petronas expects the first cargo to be delivered from the Kebabangan field in June.

Kebabangan is the second location for PFLNG Satu after its original operation at the Kanowit field, off Sarawak.

The 1.2 million tonnes per annum PFLNG Satu, which is designed to operate in water depths of between 70 and 200 metres, is home to 155 crew.

“This achievement showcases our focused execution and close collaboration efforts, within Petronas as well as externally with the state government and regulatory bodies,” said Petronas vice president of LNG Asset, Zakaria Kasah.

“We not only prove our concept of [a] relocatable floating LNG facility, but we have also seamlessly achieved the first LNG drop just three days after first gas in. This is indeed another proud moment and a great milestone for Petronas and the floating LNG industry.”

Japanese contractor Modec supplied a new mooring system including replacement mooring legs, chains and anchors for PFLNG Satu’s external turret system for the vessel to be redeployed in deeper waters than those in which it was originally stationed.

Malaysia’s Sapura Energy carried out the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning works related to the relocation and tie-in of PFLNG Satu at its new home.

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World first for PFLNG