SHI demonstrates new liquefaction process

South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries announced on November 22 it had successfully demonstrated an "innovative" new floating natural gas liquefaction system at the Geoje shipyard.

The in-house system called SENSE IV separates oil and gas oil while liquefying gas at a temperature of 162 degrees Celsius, SHI said. It will produce more than 2mn metric tons of LNG annually, and uses up to 14% less power than existing liquefaction processes.

"The successful development and demonstration of SENSE IV will further improve product reliability of the full LNG value chain including production, transportation, storage, and supply of natural gas," SHI's vice president for offshore projects development and execution, Young-Gyu Kang, said in a statement.

SHI already produces floating LNG (FLNG) systems. On November 15 the Coral FLNG left SHI's shipyard for transport to Mozambique. It will be Africa's first deepsea FLNG.