Liquefied Natural Gas Import Terminals Research Articles

Risk informed floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) location selection for local natural gas supply

In the present energy market due to high demand of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the limited availability of land-based LNG import terminals, the use of offshore LNG terminals is destined to increase. Such terminals are referred to as LNG floating storage and re-gasification units (FSRUs). An FSRU terminal is a cost-effective and a time-efficient solution to quickly open up supply to onshore users with minimal environmental impact. This work focuses on the selection from a safety point of view of a possible location for an offshore or nearshore FSRU, given alternative candidate locations. For decision making, the maritime and process safety aspects of the LNG resupply operation have to be considered. This involves the approach of an LNG Carrier (LNGC) to resupply the FSRU. The whole resupply process is divided into three consecutive parts, beginning with the LNGC navigating in the inbound channel, going through its berthing operation, and ending with transfer of the LNG. The safety of the third part, the LNG transfer to the FSRU, could be evaluated by means of a quantitative risk assessment. For the maritime operations this was not possible and evaluation had to rely on expert elicitation. To create a comparison basis of navigating, turning and berthing hazards with the risks of the LNG transfer process, a novel safety utility value (SUV) was defined existing of five ranges. Hazard attributes of navigating and of turning and berthing of the maritime operations were identified/confirmed by simulator runs, their importance was ranked, as well as their safe operating ranges determined with the aid of queries to a large group of experts. Importance ranking was based on pairwise comparison judgment, responses aggregated by means of fuzzy number fits, processed in square matrices. Expert elicitation yielded safety attribute values (SAVs) for the five SUV ranges which were statistically treated. QRA provided potential loss of life (PLL) values, which also were converted into SUV ranges. Based on the importance ranking of the three parts and the SUVs, final results were obtained.

Gas markets – a bridge too far?

The energy market is becoming more globalised and renewables are changing the supply and demand balance. Gas has been suggested as the bridging fuel to the new energy world – but is it a bridge too far? This presentation examines the global gas context and its impact on the Australian east coast gas markets, trends in energy supply options and sign posts for new directions. When the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) train started on Curtis Island, the gas producers had access to more than just the domestic market. The new overseas markets are also interconnected, so the Henry Hub, Brent oil and Chinese gas demand all have an influence on Australia’s east coast gas market. Potential LNG import terminals and net back pricing are changing the domestic gas market. The energy market is moving to renewables. This is not just an anomaly that will correct itself, but is based on lower renewable costs and distribution challenges. Moving relatively small amounts of energy long distances is a major challenge for Australia. Infrastructure, market hubs and sourcing strategies need to compensate for these challenges, and investment is needed to keep pace with the changes. Capital is a global commodity seeking the optimum return for the risk, but unconventionals, such as coal seam gas, are capital hungry. Government policies and support can be the key determinant for not only new investment but sustaining investment to meet existing gas supply contracts. Smart gas buyers will need to be agile and use deeper portfolio approaches for gas supply.

Thermoeconomic analysis of a gas turbine and cascaded CO2 combined cycle using thermal oil as an intermediate heat-transfer fluid

This paper reports an investigation of a gas turbine (GT) and two-stage cascaded supercritical and transcritical CO2 (s-CO2/t-CO2) combined power cycle using liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a low-temperature heat sink. This cycle may be well-suited for installation near LNG import terminals. GT exhaust supplies input heat to an intermediate s-CO2 cycle through a thermal oil loop. Waste heat from the s-CO2 cycle and residual heat from the GT cycle drives a lower temperature t-CO2 cycle. The t-CO2 cycle is LNG-cooled. A solution procedure is performed to perform a coupled analysis of the thermodynamic and economic performance of this combined cycle. Results show that the GT-cascade CO2 combined cycle has an optimal operating point determined by the s-CO2 compressor inlet conditions. Genetic algorithm (GA) optimization indicates that a Taurus 60 GT-cascaded CO2 combined cycle could reach 51.44% efficiency. For 20-year lifetime and 5% rate of interest, thermoeconomic optimization (after-tax profit, ATP as objective) results show ATP, levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and net power are $2.935 × 106, $0.0420 kWh−1 and 8.886 MW, respectively. Findings suggest that the GT-cascaded CO2 combined cycle is an efficient and commercially viable technology for power generation.

Economic evaluation of BOG management systems with LNG cold energy recovery in LNG import terminals considering quantitative assessment of equipment failures

This study presents an economic evaluation for comparing two systems designed to manage boil-off gas (BOG) and to take advantage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cold energy in LNG import terminals. The first system, called a BOG recondensation system, directly uses LNG cold energy by mixing BOG and LNG in the recondenser. The product of the system is natural gas (NG) obtained from the regasification process, and its required electricity must be purchased from the wholesale market. The other system is a BOG-fueled gas turbine cycle combined with a Rankine cycle. This system produces both NG and electric power. The gas turbine cycle uses BOG as the fuel for generating power, and its flue gas provides heat for the Rankine cycle in which the working fluid is used to recover LNG cold energy and cool the turbine inlet air. An exergy-based economic evaluation and a profitability comparison are employed to separately estimate the costs of each product generated by the systems and synthetically compare the economical preference between the two systems, respectively. The unavailability of the system provides the influence of equipment failure on the economic evaluation by estimating the costs and loss of profit caused by the unavailability. The results show that the BOG-fueled gas turbine cycle combined with a Rankine cycle is a better option than the recondensation system.

Technology Focus: Gas Production Technology (November 2015)

Technology Focus Only 2 years ago, the conventional wisdom was that oily or liquids-rich plays were the only place to put capital. Gas assets, especially conventional gas, were for true contrarians. While worldwide oil prices have fallen 60% since their 2014 peak, diverse natural gas prices swing between USD 2 and 4/million Btu in the US, USD 8/million Btu in central Europe, and USD 15/million Btu for delivered liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia. Depending on your timing and cost structure, gas assets may be a rare highlight in your business in 2015. Conventional wisdom implies that natural-gas demand will continue to grow, especially in locations where coal is being phased out, nuclear growth has slowed/reversed, and renewables remain a small and intermittent energy source for the foreseeable future. The underlying fundamentals may tell another story: LNG plants in progress will increase supply by 122 million t/a by 2020, while LNG demand is expected to grow much slower. Even though more LNG import terminals will be completed in the next several years, global regas-facility utilization is only 33% of capacity. Because markets need to balance eventually, will demand grow to soak up the excess supply or will the new volumes be slow to come online? In free and unregulated markets, the “invisible hand” first described by Adam Smith ultimately guides producers and consumers to a price and quantity that satisfy both parties. Unfortunately, oil and gas markets are far from free and unregulated, so investment time lag, regulations, and politics tend to delay and distort the inevitable balance that must exist in markets. Opinions on the outcome of all these competing factors tend to converge to a group consensus, which is usually just an extrapolation of “more of the same.” In 1986, we were all convinced there would never be another boom and the then-current bust would last forever. Thirty years, and several boom-and-bust cycles later, we are still making straightline projections, even though it is clear that the only thing that stays the same … is change. JPT Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. IPTC 18050 Real-Time Blending Optimization in Upstream—Operating on the Edge by Claudia Zuluaga, Sarawak Shell, et al. SPE 172528 Use of Technology To Enhance Gas Production in Saudi Arabian Carbonate Reservoirs—Key Enablers by Zillur Rahim, Saudi Aramco, et al. SPE 173606 Post-Fracturing Gas Production Through Shale Capillary Application by A. Hayatdavoudi, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, et al.

Reprint of: Performance analysis of a CCGT power plant integrated to a LNG regasification process

This paper examines the performance of a combined cycle gas turbine plant (CCGT) when integrated to the cold energy released during the regasification process of liquefied natural gas (LNG). A growing number of LNG import terminals supply regasified natural gas for power generation, with an adjacent CCGT plant providing an anchor market for the facility itself. Two integration alternatives with mutual energetic gains are proposed and simulated, and compared to a reference case without any use of the LNG cold potential. The first alternative consists on exchanging heat among LNG and the Brayton cycle air intake. The second alternative adds to the first one a novel recovery opportunity by exchanging heat with the Rankine cycle condenser. On both cases, heat from the CCGT is rejected to a lower temperature level than the one of the regular dead state. From the regasification side, the process is performed without any help of extra external energy. Both integration alternatives led to an electrical efficiency enhancement when comparing to the non-integrated cycle: 6.32% and 9.09%, respectively. The energy return on investment (EROI) of each alternative was also analyzed and gains of 12.92% and 18.57% are predicted by upon the simulation data.

Performance analysis of a CCGT power plant integrated to a LNG regasification process

This paper examines the performance of a combined cycle gas turbine plant (CCGT) when integrated to the cold energy released during the regasification process of liquefied natural gas (LNG). A growing number of LNG import terminals supply regasified natural gas for power generation, with an adjacent CCGT plant providing an anchor market for the facility itself. Two integration alternatives with mutual energetic gains are proposed and simulated, and compared to a reference case without any use of the LNG cold potential. The first alternative consists on exchanging heat among LNG and the Brayton cycle air intake. The second alternative adds to the first one a novel recovery opportunity by exchanging heat with the Rankine cycle condenser. On both cases, heat from the CCGT is rejected to a lower temperature level than the one of the regular dead state. From the regasification side, the process is performed without any help of extra external energy. Both integration alternatives led to an electrical efficiency enhancement when comparing to the non-integrated cycle: 6.32% and 9.09%, respectively. The energy return on investment (EROI) of each alternative was also analyzed and gains of 12.92% and 18.57% are predicted by upon the simulation data.

저열유속에서 상변화를 수반하는 메탄의 유동거동특성

A liquefied natural gas(LNG) in cryogenic liquid is converted back into gaseous form for distribution to residential and industrial consumers. In this re-gasification process, LNG supplies a plenty of cold thermal energy about 83.7×10 kJ/kg. The LNG cold thermal energy is utilized for the re-liquefaction process of cryogenic fluids such as Nitrogen, Hydrogen and Helium, and ice manufacturing process and air-conditioning system in some advanced countries. Therefore, it is also necessary to establish the recovery systems of the LNG cold thermal energy around Incheon, Pyungtaek and Tongyung LNG import terminals in our country. Methane is used as working fluid in this paper, which is the major component of LNG over 85 % by volume, in order to investigate the flow behavior characteristics of LNG with phase change at low heat flux. This paper presents the effects of pipe diameters, pipe inclinations and saturation pressures on the flow boundaries of methane flowing in a cryogenic heat exchanger tube, together with those of nitrogen, propane, R11 and R134a. The outcomes obtained from this theoretical researches are also compared with previous experimental data. It was also found that the effect of pipe inclination on the methane flow boundaries was significant.

Regulatory Compliance for Marine LNG Import Terminals in California

California’s projected natural gas demand, coupled with the reality of moribund supply basins, has prompted plans for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Several project applications for the siting, design, construction, and operation of onshore and offshore LNG import terminals have recently undergone a rigorous federal and state regulatory appraisal. The environmental, public safety, and security mandates encoded in current legal statutes were the dominant compliance issues. Addressing compliance required comprehensive risk assessment with extensive modeling of the potentially perilous scenarios, including natural and malevolent intentional hazards for LNG tanker movements and marine terminal operations. The objective was to evaluate the effect of adverse consequences on public and property not associated with LNG terminal. On the basis of this evaluation experience, the principal federal and state laws, regulations, standards and concerns, and jurisdictional and technical conflicts relevant to environmental, public safety, and security compliance for a marine LNG import terminal are outlined. This will benefit others planning similar ventures in California or elsewhere.

Recent Dynamics in the Global Liquefied Natural Gas Industry

This paper provides a summary on recent developments in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry and discusses prospects for capacity development in the mid-term future. During the early years of the industry, most of the world’s LNG export infrastructure remained under state control and the industry was characterized by inflexible bilateral long-term supply agreements with take-or-pay and destination clauses. In today’s LNG market, new flexibility in trading patterns comes from changes in the structure of long-term contracts. In addition, short-term agreements and spot transactions gain in importance. The first export projects without having sold total volume based on long-term contracts are moving forward. LNG suppliers and buyers increasingly integrate vertically along the whole value chain. Some companies invest in an entire portfolio of LNG export, shipping, and import positions, enabling them to conduct flexible trades and to benefit from regional price differences. In contrast, some new entrants invested in non-integrated LNG import terminals operating them as tolling facilities or speculating for short-term deliveries. However, the non-integrated players still have to prove to be successful in an industry, which a long time has been a sellers’ market without major uncommitted export capacities, and in which also in the longer-term future, once, the economic crisis is overcome, importers are expected to continue to compete for global supplies.

The Reliability of LNG Systems

Abstract The safety of the systems for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) has received intensive evaluation in the last several years1,2. A related but nevertheless distinct concern is the reliability of the gas supply that LNG would provide. This concern will become increasingly significant as more of the country's gas supply becomes dependent on LNG. In this article, the principal factors affecting the reliability of the various activities associated with LNG importation are discussed, from the supply source, through liquefaction, transportation, off-loading, storage, vaporization, and transmission and distribution. Internal failures in the systems involved in these activities, that lead generally to short-term supply outages at most, are considered. Externally caused major outages, such as could occur because of earthquakes, are also appraised. Means for avoiding or mitigating these outages, such as redundancy in system elements and gas storage and alternative supply capabilities, are described. Uncertainties in the analysis of LNG-system reliability are also noted. Uncertainties are particularly associated with data shortcomings in estimates of internally caused outage probabilities and of the likelihoods of earthquakes and other possible external causes of major outages. Examples are presented from recent reliability analyses for proposed California LNG import terminals. The results indicate that a high level of reliability in LNG import operations can be expected. However, uncertainties, especially relating to external causes of failure, make desirable certain redundancies, including, possibly, multiple terminals, in order to obviate any significant chance of important supply outages.