Costain to give advice on PNG FLNG

UK engineering group Costain will provide cryogenic expertise on a front end engineering and design study for Flex LNG's floating liquefied natural gas production project in Papua New Guinea.

The topside FEED contract was originally awarded to a joint venture between Australia's WorleyParsons and Norway's Kanfa Aragon in May for the Elk-Antelope FLNG project.

Costain said the study would develop generic FEED work it had previously carried out with Kafna for the development of the Elk-Antelope LNG processing and liquefaction topside which will have a capacity of up to 2 million tonnes per annum.

"The ability to produce LNG at the point of extraction will mean many remote offshore gas fields will become economically viable for the first time," managing director of Costain's energy and process division, Charles Sweeney, said.

"With the global demand for LNG ever-increasing, this technology is set to revolutionise the energy industry."

The FLNG project is part of the wider Gulf LNG project which project partners InterOil and Pacific LNG expect to make a final investment decision on later this year, with start-up scheduled for 2014.

The proposed Gulf LNG project will also comprise of a mid-size onshore LNG plant being developed with Energy World Corporation with capacity for up to 3 mtpa.

The project will be fed by the Elk and Antelope gas fields which are reported to have a best-case contingent resource of 8.59 trillion cubic feet of gas and 128.9 million barrels of condensate.