Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), the state oil and gas (O&G) company, has awarded two front-end engineering and design (FEED) contracts to Italy-based Saipem and a consortium between Japan-based JGC Holdings Corporation (JGC) and South Korea-based Samsung Heavy Industries Company Limited for a nearshore floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Sabah, East Malaysia. The nearshore LNG project will have a minimum capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum.
Since the facility will be located in a protected bay area, there is an opportunity for improved production uptime. The Sabah project will use a barge-based floating liquefaction FLNG vessel that will be moored to a jetty. Work on the station also includes the development of an onshore substation, a new jetty head, offshore and onshore pipelines and trestle at the jetty of Sipitang Oil & Gas Industrial Park’s chemical fertiliser facility.
Upon completion, the nearshore floating LNG facility is expected to increase production from Petronas’ FLNG facilities from 2.7 million tpa to 4.7 million tpa.