The Asia Pacific Region is experiencing a period of sustained economic expansion. Economic growth has led to an increasing demand for energy that has spurred a rapid expansion of baseload liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in this region. This is illustrated by the fact that seven of the ten baseload facilities in existence provide LNG for markets in the Asia Pacific region. With the three exceptions having been initially commissioned in 1972 and earlier, it is fair to observe that most advances m LNG technology have been developed and applied for this market.
The paper presents the current status and identified future trends for the Asia Pacific LNG trade. Technology development in terms of application to onstream production, processing and transportation facilities, including LNG tankers, is presented. The potential of future advances to applied technology and operational practices to improve the cost-effectiveness of new and existing facilities is discussed. Current design data and methods as actually used are examined in terms of identifying where fundamental research and basic physical data are insufficient for optimisation purposes.
These findings are then summarised and presented in terms of the likely evolution of future and existing LNG projects in the Asia Pacific region.
Introduction
The sustained economic expansion in the Asia Pacific Region has led to an increasing market demand for LNG relative to the current contracted supply as illustrated on Table 1 The existing LNG facilities supplying the Asia Pacific Region are shown in Figure 1. These facilities are located in Abu Dhabi, Alaska, Australia, Brunei Indonesia, Malaysia and Qatar (planned, with construction about to proceed). Possible LNG projects in Oman and Papua New Guinea are currently under discussion. Potential LNG projects proceeding on a large scale using extensive natural gas reserves from Alaska (plus Canada's discoveries in the Beaufort Sea), from Natuna offshore Indonesia, and from Siberia are at the conceptual stage. The existence of several serious proposals for greenfield LNG facilities to supply an increasing market demand naturally bring up the issues of LNG pricing and cost reduction through technology development.
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