Baker Hughes bags turbomachinery contract for floating LNG plant

Baker Hughes, a GE company, has been awarded a contract to supply turbomachinery equipment for the first phase of BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project located offshore Mauritania and Senegal. BHGE will provide the technology for four compressor trains for offshore gas liquefaction on board Golar LNG Limited’s industry leading FLNG solution, expected to deliver 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum.

The contract was awarded to BHGE in the first quarter of 2019 by Golar’s topsides contractor, Black and Veatch (B&V).

Each of the four trains will consist of a PGT25+G4 aeroderivative gas turbine driving a centrifugal compressor. The gas turbines and compressors will be manufactured, tested and transported from BHGE’s plants in Italy.

“Being selected for this important project reinforces our gas leadership position in the global LNG market and an important region,” said Rod Christie, President and CEO of BHGE Turbomachinery & Process Solutions. “Our technology solution has been proven to support FLNG, is based on a strong partnership with B&V and offers best-in-class reliability rates that will help reduce operational risks for Golar and BP.”

Technology Details

The PGT25+ G4 gas turbine family has over 560 units in operation, with more than 3.7 million of fired hours of operating experience. First introduced in the mid 2000’s, the PGT25+ G4 builds on the LM2500 and PGT25 heritage, which has over 2500 engines in service and has accumulated more than 94 million hours of operation with best-in-class reliability and availability.

Project Details

The initial subsea infrastructure connects the first four of 12 wells consolidated through production pipelines leading to a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. From here liquids are removed and the export gas is transported via a pipeline to the FLNG hub terminal where the gas is liquefied.

The Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project will produce gas from an ultra-deepwater subsea system and mid-water floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which will process the gas and remove heavier hydrocarbon components. The gas will then be transferred to a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility at an innovative nearshore hub located on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border. The FLNG facility is designed to provide circa 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum on average, with the total gas resources in the field estimated to be around 15 trillion cubic feet. The project, the first major gas development to reach FID in the basin, is planned to provide LNG for global export as well as  making gas available for domestic use in both Mauritania and Senegal.