A floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility is a floating production storage and offloading unit that conducts liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations for developing offshore natural gas resources. Floating above an offshore natural gas field, the FLNG facility produces liquefied stores and transfers LNG (and potentially LPG and condensate) at sea before carriers ship it to markets.
Recent developments in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry require relocation of conventional LNG processing units (or trains) into the sea to unlock remote, smaller gas fields that would not be economical to develop otherwise.Using these new types of FLNG facilities reduces capital expenses and environmental impacts.[1] Unlike floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs), FLNGs will also allow full scale deep processing, as an onshore LNG plant does[2] but will reduce its footprint to 25%t[citation needed]. The first 3 FLNG's were constructed in 2016: Prelude FLNG (Shell), PFLNG1 and PFLNG2 (Petronas).