PETRONAS’ first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, PFLNG SATU has set sail to the Kanowit gas field, offshore Sarawak, making its historic 2,120 nautical mile journey to Malaysia on 14 May 2016.

At 365-metre-long and with a dry weight of 132,000 tonnes, PFLNG SATU was towed from the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd (DSME) shipyard in Okpo, South Korea for the offshore phase of the project.

The PFLNG SATU will proceed with the installation, hook-up and commissioning of the floating facility once moored at the Kanowit gas field, 180 kilometres offshore Sarawak.

PETRONAS’ Advisor of Global LNG Project – Project Delivery and Technology, Datuk Abdullah Karim said the sail away of the floating LNG facility marked a significant milestone in PETRONAS’ bold decision to deliver a game changer in the global LNG business as it paves the way for opportunities to monetise the greater availability of stranded gas reserves.

“The sail away of PFLNG SATU is an achievement everyone in PETRONAS, DSME and Technip can be proud of. Congratulations and I look forward to the next phase of the project at the Kanowit gas field for the successful startup of PFLNG SATU,” added Datuk Abdullah Karim.

Construction began with the official steel cutting in June 2013 followed by the launching of the hull on April 2014. In the fourth quarter of 2015, PETRONAS announced that PFLNG SATU had achieved a 95 per cent overall progress in its construction with the successful installation of 22 modular systems within and on the topside of the floating facility.

PETRONAS’ President and CEO of Pacific NorthWest LNG, En. Adnan Zainal Abidin said that a total of 18 million man-hours has been clocked to achieve the technological and engineering aspirations of a floating LNG facility.

“Our gratitude to the hard work and dedication of the PETRONAS project team and our partners for achieving this milestone. We wish the team success in the offshore phase of the project,” said Adnan.

Designed for water-depths between 70 metres to 200 metres deep and a processing capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) with 145 crew onboard, PFLNG SATU will support PETRONAS’ global LNG portfolio and enhance its reputation as a preferred and reliable LNG supplier.

About Petronas

PETRONAS was incorporated on 17 August 1974 as the national oil company of Malaysia, vested with the entire ownership and control of the petroleum resources in the country. It has since grown from merely being the manager and regulator of Malaysia’s upstream sector into a fully integrated oil and gas corporation, ranked among the FORTUNE Global 500® largest corporations in the world.