Floating LNG is drifting along

The market slowdown means floating LNG isn’t moving ahead as quickly as its proponents thought it would

WEAK trade makes it a difficult time to launch the first floating LNG projects. But with several already well down the development slipway, they are coming – whether the world needs them yet or not. The headline grabber, Shell’s 3.6m tonne-a-year (t/y) Prelude, already mostly built, is due to be on station on Woodside’s Prelude field, off Western Australia, by 2017. But Petronas says its version will be operational sooner: the 1.2m t/y PFLNG Satu will arrive above the Kanowit field, off Sarawak, Borneo, later this year, according to the Malaysian firm. The timetable looks plausible. Petronas said in December the vessel was 95% complete and the company held a naming ceremony in early March, w