With the need for new gas supplies to feed the US and UK gas trading businesses, ConocoPhillips has embarked on the development of several large-scale LNG projects within the context of a global gas strategy
Classification News sat down with Peter Noble, manager of ConocoPhillips' marine transportation division, to hear more about the company's LNG strategy both in the short and longer term.
According to Peter Noble, ConocoPhillips (COP) has interests along the whole LNG value chain. "As we see it, the area in which there is significant scope for innovation and improvement is within the LNG production, transportation and re-gasification components," he says.
Regarding transportation, COP is currently engaged in developing large LNG projects in Australasia, the Middle East, North Africa, Russia, South America, Southeast Asia and West Africa. As each current project becomes fully operational, one or more new projects will be added to the list.
Project development
Noble says that ConocoPhillips Marine (COPM) is taking a long view on development projects related to LNG. "First, given the projected size and scale of the LNG industry, COPM will be in the business of building LNGCs on a continuing basis for decades to come," he says. "Second, given the time required to bring a single large LNG project to full operation, it is inevitable that succeeding projects will overlap: there should be significant value to be had from treating each individual project as a phase in one never-ending mega-project."
Also, Noble believes that given the high value of the product, the biggest risk in LNGC construction will be that of delay: as a result, one of the most important elements in COPM's approach to LNGC construction is effective construction management.
Construction management
"Once COPM's multi-project LNGC construction program is operating at full throttle, it is to be expected that 20 or more ships could be under contract simultaneously," he says. "While it would be desirable for all these ships to be identical, the reality is that the requirements of different projects and the construction practices of different shipbuilders will result in a mixed bag of design and size variations."
As a result, COPM intends to act as overall program manager and coordinate all the activities of all the projects, including the plan approval process, the shipowners' on-site inspection efforts, and the activities of class. It is anticipated that a single IT system will be established to provide real-time visibility of all aspects of the design and construction process, and all participants will use the same project planning, control and reporting procedures.
Quantum leap
Although the LNG shipping industry is now 40 years old, Noble believes it will shortly make a quantum leap in scale, as the first large-scale LNG projects come on line. "In the transportation of LNG, as in the transportation of crude oil, iron ore and containers, size matters," he says. "In this respect, the unreasoned resistance in some areas of the USA (notably California and the North East) of local interests to new onshore LNG terminals only helps, encouraging as it does the construction of offshore terminals with no ship size restrictions. COPM expects to see a continuing increase in vessel size as more and more terminals are built which can handle large LNGCs."
To secure COPM's long-term commitment to LNG, the company has initiated an LNG Transportation Research & Development Program to explore ways in which LNG transportation can be made more efficient, with improved safety and reliability.
Technical innovations
Among the early developments to emerge from this program is the 'Prism' or 'Pyramid' tank concept. This concept allows the carriage of large volumes of LNG on shorter ships, with less cargo sloshing than in existing membrane-type designs. Experimental, analytical and engineering studies are currently underway with the expected outcome being a 228,000 m3 ship which will be about 20m less in length than an equivalent conventional vessel. DNV is currently working with COPM towards giving approval in principle for this concept.
Noble says that COPM also expects to see significant technical developments in the area of cargo containment systems: a less labour-intensive system is urgently needed to reduce construction cost and time. "It is not unreasonable to visualise a 400,000 m3 ship, with a carbon-fibre reinforced ceramic containment system, propelled by gas-turbine driven electric podded drives, using cryogenically cooled super-conducting motors, fuelled with sulphur-free gas to liquids produced fuel," says Noble. "Such ships would be in long-haul trans-Pacific or trans-Atlantic trade between large offshore loading and discharge terminals."
These are exciting times for naval architects, using ConocoPhillips' pioneering spirit to responsibly deliver energy to the world.