2008 Annual Report - SBM Offshore

SBM Offshore Annual Report 2008 / Report of the Board of Management79to play an important role, just as SPM-type terminals didfor the oil industry decades ago.propose an FSRU based on the conversion of an existingLNG Carrier.Rather than spending a lot of development efforts on asingle offshore LNG terminal design, SBM Offshore hasconcentrated its efforts to develop and control the keyenabling technologies to be used in a wide range of LNGterminal component designs i.e.Subsea LNG pipeline,toroidal LNG swivel, LNG Hose with connector and SoftQuay Mooring system (SQM).Based on these technologies, a suite of offloading terminaldesigns, which are well known and proven in oil applications,have been developed.Subsea LNG pipelineIn contrast to oil terminals where there are numerouspipeline suppliers, there are only a limited number ofcompanies active on sub-sea LNG pipeline development.One of the leading technology players is ITP from Francewhich is the only company so far to have achieved thefitness for service certificates from a Class Authority.The cooperation agreement signed with ITP in 2007 hasbeen strengthened with the execution, during 2008, bySBM Offshore and ITP of the FEED contract for a NigerianLNG project which may lead to the formal bid for thefacilities. Furthermore, various other projects have showninterest in an offshore LNG terminal using such a subseaLNG pipeline rather than traditional jetty-type near shoreLNG offloading arrangements, usually driven by concernsrelated to the damage to the environment of the latterarrangement.Offshore LNG RegasificationA generic new-build FSRU concept has been developed fora wide range of LNG storage and regasification requirementsto meet the higher range of gas send out demand. Forsmaller gas send out requirements the Company wouldGas LinkThe Gas Link arrangement patented by SBM Offshore isspecifically designed to supply LNG to small and isolatedmarkets. It allows energy users currently running on dieselor fuel to use cheaper and cleaner LNG without the needfor large upfront investments.The challenge of controlling the project economics for thesmaller size terminals is basically achieved through theuse of the Ambient Air Vaporisers. Due to the simplicity ofthe regasification system, the supporting utilities can bekept to a minimum and all can be fitted on a conventionalsteel barge. The LNG is then stored separately onboard achartered and permanently moored LNG Carrier, loweringthe investment hurdles for new terminals in the smallerLNG markets.Green Power GenerationA new, promising development direction is the generationof electricity in an environmentally friendly manner. Offshorewaters contain an enormous amount of potential energyand so leveraging on the Company’s extensive knowledgeand experience in providing systems in the offshore waveand current environment, it was decided late 2006 toexplore ways of capturing a portion of that energy in ansustainable manner: green power.After reviewing various energy potential sources (currentenergy, thermal/density, solar, etc) it was found that WaveEnergy Conversion systems (WEC), have a good applicationpotential both from a technical feasibility and commercialviability perspective. A creative team of engineers hastherefore been working on a range of WEC concepts.