Floating LNG Engineering & Construction Course

What you'll learn:

All LNG liquefaction technologies cool gas to –162°C — but how they do it, and which technology is safe and practical offshore, varies dramatically. This lecture compares the five main refrigeration cycles used in LNG production and explains how the unique constraints of an offshore floating facility — fire risk, sloshing, limited deck space, and vessel motion — drive technology selection decisions that are completely different from those made for onshore plants.

You will understand why the world's most widely used onshore technology has never been selected for a major FLNG project, and why inert nitrogen — despite its lower efficiency — is the safest refrigerant choice for certain offshore environments.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Explain the thermodynamic principle common to all liquefaction refrigeration cycles

• Describe the C3MR cycle and explain why its large propane inventory makes it unsuitable for FLNG

• Explain how DMR (Dual Mixed Refrigerant) achieves C3MR-equivalent efficiency without the propane fire hazard — and identify which major FLNG uses it

• Describe SMR/PRICO and its advantages for small and mid-scale FLNG applications

• Explain the nitrogen recycle cycle, its offshore safety advantages, and its efficiency trade-offs

• Compare all five technologies against the key offshore selection criteria: efficiency, fire safety, sloshing risk, footprint, and capacity

What you'll learn:

An FLNG facility contains some of the most sophisticated and expensive equipment ever engineered for an offshore environment. This lecture goes inside four critical system categories: the main cryogenic heat exchangers at the heart of liquefaction, the compressor driver trains that consume hundreds of megawatts of power, the cargo containment tanks that store LNG at –162°C inside a ship's hull, and the offloading systems that transfer LNG to visiting carriers at sea.

For each system, you will learn why the engineering choices made for offshore differ from those made for onshore plants — and what the consequences of getting those choices wrong would be.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Describe the construction and operating principle of a Coil Wound Heat Exchanger (CWHE) and explain its advantages for cryogenic offshore service

• Explain why Shell Prelude uses steam turbines rather than gas turbines to drive its refrigerant compressors

• Compare membrane tank systems (GTT NO96 and Mark III) against independent tank systems (Moss spherical and SPB) on fill-level flexibility, sloshing risk, and space efficiency

• Explain the function of the Emergency Release Coupling (ERC) on LNG loading arms

• Describe the difference between LNG side-by-side offloading and tandem condensate offloading, and explain why the two products use different arrangements

What you'll learn:

You cannot take an onshore LNG plant and bolt it to a ship. The ocean introduces forces, motions, and hazards that land-based engineers never encounter — and every process and structural system must be re-engineered to survive and perform in the offshore marine environment for 25 years.

This lecture covers the five biggest marinization challenges that distinguish FLNG engineering from any other industrial project: sloshing dynamics in partially-filled LNG tanks, the extreme weight and space constraints of a topside deck, the turret mooring system that lets the vessel survive a 1-in-10,000-year storm, deep ocean water cooling, and the unique safety zoning philosophy required when a congested hydrocarbon-processing facility is permanently moored at sea.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Explain the six degrees of freedom of vessel motion and describe their effects on process equipment performance

• Describe the sloshing phenomenon in LNG cargo tanks and explain why membrane tanks must stay above 90% or below 10% full

• Explain the function of an internal turret mooring system and describe how suction pile anchors and swivel stacks work

• Describe the principle of Deep Ocean Water (DOW) cooling and why it is essential for tropical offshore FLNG operations

• Identify the key safety zoning measures on an FLNG — blast walls, water curtains, hazardous area classification — and explain the engineering logic behind them

What you'll learn:

Engineering an FLNG facility is uniquely complex because it must simultaneously satisfy two completely different regulatory frameworks: petroleum process plant regulations and maritime ship classification rules. Where these frameworks conflict, the most conservative requirement wins — and resolving that tension drives significant cost and schedule impact on every FLNG project.

This lecture maps out the full engineering design process — from concept through FEED to construction-ready IFC drawings — and explains which of the eight engineering disciplines contribute to each phase. You will also learn which international standards govern FLNG design and why engineering standards from the petroleum, maritime, and fire protection industries must all be applied together.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Explain the role of three overlapping authorities in FLNG design: the Flag State, the host country petroleum regulator, and the Classification Society

• Name the eight engineering disciplines involved in FLNG design and describe each one's scope

• Describe the progression from Pre-FEED to FEED to Detailed Engineering, including the level of definition and key deliverables at each phase

• Identify the key standards governing FLNG: API RP 505, API 670, IEC 61511, IMO IGC Code, NFPA 59A, and ISO 20519

What you'll learn:

Getting procurement wrong on an FLNG project can delay start-up by years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production. The fundamental challenge is that the most critical pieces of equipment take up to three years to manufacture — and there are only a handful of qualified suppliers in the world who can make them.

This lecture explains how FLNG project teams manage this risk through early long-lead item identification, rigorous vendor qualification, strategic contracting approaches, and Factory Acceptance Testing — all designed to ensure that when a module arrives at the integration yard, it works exactly as specified.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Identify the five most critical long-lead equipment items on an FLNG project and their typical delivery lead times

• Explain why Letters of Intent for long-lead items must be placed before EPC contract award

• Describe the four pillars of vendor qualification: technical capability, quality management system, third-party inspection, and financial stability

• Compare LSFO EPC, EPCM, and split contracting strategies and identify the conditions under which each is most appropriate

• Explain the purpose and content of a Factory Acceptance Test for a refrigerant compressor train

What you'll learn:

Building an FLNG facility requires multiple fabrication yards working simultaneously across different countries, all converging on a single integration point where up to 10,000-tonne modules are lifted onto the hull by giantgantry cranes. This lecture covers the complete construction process — from steel cutting in a drydock to the complex multi-discipline hook-up work that connects all systems together before commissioning can begin.

You will learn how modularisation enables parallel construction that compresses the overall project schedule, and why quality management in cryogenic piping is fundamentally more rigorous than in conventional process plant construction.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Describe the hull construction process in a drydock and explain how membrane tank installation differs from conventional ship construction

• Explain the modularisation strategy for FLNG topsides and identify the schedule benefits it provides

• Describe the hook-up sequence after module setting and explain why it typically sits on the project critical path

• Identify the key quality management requirements for cryogenic piping construction: NDE requirements, weld register documentation, and material traceability standards

What you'll learn:

After years of engineering and construction, the FLNG vessel is towed from the shipyard to its permanent location — potentially hundreds of kilometres offshore. Then the complex, weather-sensitive work of marine installation begins: connecting the permanent mooring system to pre-installed seabed anchors, hooking up subsea production risers and control umbilicals, and proving every connection to be leak-tight before handover to the commissioning team.

This lecture walks through the wet tow from shipyard to field, the step-by-step mooring and riser installation sequence, and the corrosion protection systems that must protect the hull for its 25-year design life.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Describe the wet tow procedure and identify the key elements of a tow management plan

• Explain how suction pile anchors are pre-installed and how mooring chains are subsequently connected to the vessel turret using ROVs

• Describe the riser and umbilical connection sequence and identify what must be pressure-tested before handover to commissioning

• Explain the corrosion protection strategy for an FLNG hull, including anti-fouling coatings, sacrificial anodes, and ICCP systems

What you'll learn:

Commissioning is where years of engineering and construction are validated. Every valve, every sensor, every control loop, and every safety system must be individually proven safe and functional before real hydrocarbons are introduced. For an FLNG, this systematic process takes 12 to 24 months and involves thousands of documented tests across hundreds of individual systems.

This lecture walks through the complete commissioning lifecycle — from Mechanical Completion and pre-commissioning activities through RFSU, First Gas, and ultimately Beneficial Operation. You will learn the correct utilities commissioning sequence, why the order of activities matters, and what the commissioning team does when a system fails a test.

By the end of this lecture, you will be able to:

• Explain the commissioning system breakdown structure and the progression from MC → Pre-commissioning → RFSU for each system

• Distinguish between A-punch and B-punch items and explain how each is managed

• Describe the pre-commissioning activities for piping systems: flushing, pressure testing, and instrument loop checks

• Explain how Safety Instrumented Systems are proof-tested in accordance with IEC 61511 before RFSU

• Describe the correct utilities commissioning sequence: emergency power → main power → instrument air → nitrogen → cooling water → steam

• Describe the First Gas event and the staged approach to bringing each process system on stream for the first time

• Define Beneficial Operation and explain what it represents as the transition from the project phase to the operations phase