Qualification Of A Cryogenic Floating Flexible Hose Enabling Safe And Reliable Offshore LNG Transfer For Tandem FLNG Offloading Systems

摘要

Moving LNG production to an offshore setting certainly presents a serious set of challenges for theoffshore oil and gas industry, particularly when it comes to the design and construction of FLNG facilitieswhich need to maintain the utmost levels of safety and give increased flexibility to LNG production whilewithstanding the effects of winds, waves and currents in the open seas. With the first FLNG plants nowin production and twenty other planned FLNG projects worldwide, it is safe to say that over the past fewyears these challenges have been overcome and these facilities have well and truly demonstrated theireconomic and technical viability to the industry. But while some challenges have certainly been met,others remain.The environmental conditions of the current FLNG locations are at present quite mild and only requirethe use of the most straightforward technology for the unloading of the LNG, e.g. marine loading arms.But, with prospective new FLNG locations moving away from these ‘mild’ areas, to sites where sea states,wind and currents can be much more severe, only tandem LNG offloading systems appear to meet thechallenges of the application as they improve safety, operability and availability.Since 2009, Trelleborg has been developing floating cryogenic hoses which ensure LNG offshoretransfer with minimum BOG generation, combine high flexibility, reliability and long service life, andalso meet LNG operator and contractor’s offloading requirements related to safety, flowrate capacity andoperation availability. Through latest acquisition, this technology has been even further enhanced, withnew parameters being put forward for the development of these hoses in order to become a key componentin offloading systems for future offshore FLNG projects.This white paper will discuss Trelleborg’s 20" ID cryogenic hose development and qualificationprogram and outline why tandem offloading solutions are a viable alternative for the industry – not onlylimiting downtime, but also improving safety. The paper will present in this case the innovative offshoreLNG offloading system using cryogenic floating hoses which has been jointly developed with Saipemsince 2009 and about to be qualified according to EN1474 standard requirements.