Number 4 - ExxonMobil in the UK

Photo courtesy of Qatargas
Bigger, more energy-
efficient LNG carriers
For nearly a third of a century,
the size of LNG carriers has
remained virtually unchanged.
However, ExxonMobil, working
with Qatar Petroleum, ship
operators, naval architects and
structural engineers, has developed
a new class of LNG carrier
that provides a step change in
the cost of delivering LNG to
distant customers.
“These new double-hulled
ships are much bigger than
conventional carriers,” says Neil
Duffin, president of ExxonMobil
Development Company. “They
have significantly larger LNG
tanks, onboard reliquefaction
units, slow-speed diesel engines,
twin propellers and rudders, and
improved ship hulls. All these
factors combine to reduce shipping
costs by about 30 percent.
That’s a huge gain because shipping
represents a significant portion
of the delivered cost of LNG.
That makes Qatar LNG even
more competitive.”
Two new categories of LNG
carriers are being built. The
larger Q-Max ships – more than
three football fields long – will
carry 80 percent more cargo
than conventional carriers. The
slightly smaller Q-Flex ships will
carry 50 percent more cargo.
Both will consume 40 percent
less energy on a delivered-unit
basis than conventional LNG
carriers. The ships are being built
in South Korea, with 27 chartered
by ExxonMobil joint ventures
due for delivery by 2009.
Twenty Q-Flex ships are already
in service, and deliveries of the
Q-Max carriers have started.
Installed 10 miles off the coast of Italy, the Adriatic LNG terminal
will supply about 10 percent of the country’s natural-gas needs.
New terminals in Italy,
Wales, Texas
ExxonMobil, Qatar Petroleum
and their international co-venturers
are investing in every phase
of the LNG value chain, including
three new receiving terminals
in Europe and the United States.
Each terminal will include not
only regasification facilities but
also adequate storage to balance
seasonal shifts in demand.
The Adriatic LNG terminal
completed its 1,700-mile journey
from its construction site in
Spain across the Mediterranean
Sea to where it was installed
10 miles off the east coast of
northern Italy in September. It is
the world’s first offshore gravitybased
LNG terminal. When it
reaches full operational capacity
in 2009, the facility will be able
to store, regasify and deliver the
LNG equivalent of about 800
million cubic feet of gas daily,
or about 10 percent of Italy’s
natural-gas requirements.
In addition, the South Hook
terminal in Milford Haven, Wales,
is being constructed on the site
of a former ExxonMobil refinery
that closed in the 1980s. With
a daily capacity
of about 2 billion
cubic feet of
gas, South Hook
To learn more
exxonmobil.com/
lngships
is scheduled to begin receiving
LNG cargoes this winter.
A third terminal, also capable
of handling up to 2 billion cubic
feet of gas daily, is being built
near Sabine Pass on the Upper
Texas Gulf Coast near the
Louisiana border. LNG cargoes
offloaded at the Golden Pass
terminal will be delivered into
several existing natural gas pipelines
that feed Texas and much
of the eastern United States.
Operation startup is expected
in 2009. the Lamp
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