TOTAL has several FLNG facilities operating worldwide. Some are moored to a jetty in calm seas, others work with an external turret mooring system enabling the FLNG to weathervane through 360 degrees, to adapt to ocean conditions and face the best direction for LNG transfer.
However, a turret is a fragile and expensive FLNG structural component, especially since it’s not needed in waters with strong directional waves that don’t vary much. It can be replaced by conventional spread mooring at the FLNG’s four corners. This much cheaper option keeps the FLNG in the desired direction and position.
TOTAL conducted tests on a real-time simulator at MARIN and acquired know-how that lets them pinpoint metocean conditions, to transfer LNG from a non-turret FLNG moored offshore to a combined LNG carrier. The studies also zeroed in on marine logistics issues and defined operability criteria essential to proposing a competitive FLNG unit that can operate offshore, until tandem STS transfer systems are available.
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