Delfin Wraps up Feed on Louisiana FLNG

US group Delfin Midstream has completed front-end engineering design (Feed) work on a 3.5mn metric ton/year newbuild floating LNG (FLNG) vessel design for a liquefaction project it wants to develop off the coast of Louisiana, it said on October 11.

Delfin began the study with Samsung Heavy Industries and Black & Veatch in October last year. The group has successfully developed a "robust, low-cost and efficient FLNG vessel design," Delfin said, enabling the project's execution at a overall capital cost of around $550 mt/yr.

The company wants to position up to four FLNG vessels in the Gulf of Mexico capable of producing a total of 13mn mt/yr of LNG. While many larger land-based LNG export projects try to cut their costs through economies of scale, Delfin wants to make its venture competitive by re-purposing existing offshore pipelines to supply the complex with gas.

Each of the FLNG vessels can be developed independently, with its own commercial and financial structure, Delfin said. This will allow Delfin to be at the lower end of the global LNG cost curve, it said, with a minimum of 2.0-2.5mn mt/yr of firm offtake needed for a final investment decision on each vessel.

The vessels will use the latest gas turbine technology, optimised liquefaction technology supplied by Black & Veatch, and direct air cooling and waste-heat recovery systems to achieve maximum fuel efficiency and minimal emissions, Delfin said. They will each have two offloading facilities to serve large- and small-scale carriers and provide bunkering services.

Delfin and its partners have also reached an initial agreement on terms for a lump-sum, turnkey engineering, procurement, construction, integration and commissioning contract for the project.