| Popis: |
Argentina is evolving from a natural gas importer to an exporter, thanks to the development of the Vaca Muerta formation in the Neuquén Basin. The Argentinean National Oil Company is still ramping up production, but already there is excess gas available for export in the form of LNG to international markets. The Caribbean Floating LNG (CFLNG) barge had been completed for another project, which unfortunately had been cancelled due to bankruptcy of the Client. In August 2018, the two companies met ‘over a cup of coffee’ to see if CFLNG could be deployed as a pilot production system for LNG export in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. CFLNG was designed as a small-scale liquefaction system of 0.5 MTPA capacity, using pipeline quality feed gas. The paper will describe the design considerations made at the time, as well as the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning activities to complete the unit for its alternate feed gas and location. Especially the latter was a major undertaking, since validating CFLNG’s liquefaction performance comprised loading 270 road trailers LNG into its cargo tanks, installation of a temporary LNG vaporization skid, to be able to complete the contractual full 72-hour liquefaction performance test, all while docked quayside at the construction yard. Also, the paper will address the modifications made to the unit to moor it alongside an existing jetty in Bahía Blanca, to receive gas from shore, as well as the provisions made onshore for pre-treatment and pressure boosting of the feed gas. After the initial contact with the end customer, due diligence inspections and engineering studies were performed on how CFLNG could be deployed in Argentina. Soon, both parties realized the unit was a good match. A contract was signed on November 20th, 2018: Caribbean FLNG was now to become Tango FLNG. Site specific modification and reactivation works were carried out in China, where the unit was laid up. It was loaded onto a semi-submersible heavy lift vessel (HLV) close to Shanghai, late December 2018. In parallel, gas treatment and compression equipment was sourced and procured, and modifications to the jetty were completed. The unit arrived in Bahía Blanca in February 2019. After mooring up, commissioning activities were started, ultimately resulting in the successful delivery of a first LNG cargo on June 6th, 2019. Noteworthy detail is that Tango FLNG is moored to the same Jetty that was used to import LNG to Argentina for 10 years! The project demonstrates that the FLNG concept is flexible and can be redeployed to other locations. The Start-up of Tango FLNG is the start of LNG export for Argentina. |
