浮式液化天然气(FLNG)项目在天然气生产国和天然气消费国都在蓬勃发展
欧洲是全球FLNG项目需求飙升的主要驱动力
欧洲正在争分夺秒地囤积尽可能多的天然气，以减少对管道天然气的依赖
中国石化新闻网讯 据油价网11月21日报道，由于欧洲争分夺秒地想要尽快获得尽可能多的天然气，以及天然气开发商寻求更便宜、更快捷的天然气资源变现方案，浮式液化天然气（FLNG）项目越来越受到青睐。就在11月份，一个新的 FLNG终端开始从莫桑比克向欧洲出口天然气，而在地缘政治冲突颠覆欧盟能源政策的几个月后，几个FLNG和浮式存储再气化装置（FSRU）已经在欧洲建立起来。
在今年早些时候削减了对欧洲的天然气供应后，能源安全和遏制工业和家庭能源账单飙升的方法成为能源政策议程的首要任务，因此，无论是在天然气生产国还是天然气消费国，对FLNG项目的需求都在飙升。
投资者也更倾向于为成本更低、规模更小的海上FLNG项目提供资金，这些项目的回报更快，而大型陆上LNG设施的建设所需时间是前者的两倍多。
全球著名能源咨询公司伍德麦肯兹的分析师弗雷泽•卡森对彭博社记者表示：“FLNG的声誉肯定在提高。”卡森补充说：“我们看到贷款机构更愿意为FLNG项目提供融资。”
卡森说，在过去几个月里，FLNG项目在天然气生产国和天然气进口国都有了强劲发展势头。
11月早些时候，意大利埃尼公司宣布首次装运由Coral Sul FLNG从莫桑比克海上鲁伍马盆地超深水珊瑚气田生产的第一批LNG。这家意大利能源巨头表示，尽管疫情造成了中断，但这个项目在2017年获得批准以后，仅过了5年就开始投产，符合最初的预算和进度表。
在欧洲，FSRU正在德国、荷兰和芬兰建立。荷兰埃姆斯哈文港的FSRU项目和德国威廉港和布隆斯比特港的FSRU项目预计将在今年年底投入使用。
挪威著名能源研究和商业情报公司雷斯塔能源公司（Rystad）高级天然气和LNG分析师考沙尔·拉梅什今年早些时候曾对《金融时报》的Alan Livsey表示，目前，拥有更多LNG进口设施的更快、更便宜的选择是租用FSRU。
拉梅什对英国《金融时报》表示：“目前很少有比欧洲目前的情况更适合FSRU的用例了。”
陆上LNG进口设施要昂贵得多，建设需要数年时间，最终，如果欧洲在2030年前实现天然气消耗减少30%、在2030年前温室气体排放减少至少55%以及在2050年前实现净零排放的中期目标，这些陆上LNG进口设施届时可能仍然是搁浅资产。
因此，北欧国家现在正寻求租用FSRU来进口LNG，以确保未来几个冬天的天然气供应，直到欧盟在通过能源效率措施减少天然气消耗和提高氢气和可再生天然气使用方面取得有意义的进展。
例如，就在今年5月产能大国表示将立即切断对芬兰的所有天然气供应的那一天，芬兰的输电网公司Gasgrid Finland Oy和美国的Excelerate能源公司签署了一份为期10年的《Exemplar号》LNG终端船的租用协议，以确保芬兰的天然气供应充足。
Gasgrid首席执行官Olli Sipilä当时表示：“租用LNG终端船非常重要，因为它将确保芬兰和爱沙尼亚未来天然气供应的安全。”
在荷兰，天然气供应商Gasunie在格罗宁根地区的埃姆斯哈文港建造了一个FLNG终端，并于9月投入使用，仅在计划发布6个月后。
就德国而言，自5月份以来，德国已经包租了几艘FSRU，其中两艘位于威廉港和布隆斯比特港，预计将在今年年底开始运行。上周，德国表示已完成威廉港FLNG终端的建设。
目前，德国计划到2023年底前建造6个这样的FLNG终端。据路透社估计，这些FSRU将有能力进口约三分之一的德国年天然气消费量。
诚然，FLNG项目的生产/进口能力远低于大型陆上工厂。但它们是满足欧洲中短期天然气需求的更便宜、更快捷的替代方案。
李峻 编译自 油价网
原文如下：
Floating LNG Projects Boom As Europe Races To Stock Up On Gas
· Floating LNG projects are booming in both gas-importing countries and gas-producing countries.
· Europe is the main driver in the soaring demand for FLNG projects.
· Europe is racing against time to stock up on as much natural gas as possible as it slashes its reliance on energy.
Floating LNG projects are becoming increasingly popular as Europe races against time to get its hands on as much natural gas as soon as possible, and developers look for cheaper and faster options to monetize gas resources. Just this month, a new floating LNG (FLNG) platform began to export gas from Mozambique to Europe, while several FLNG and floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) have already been set up in Europe, just a few months after the war upended the EU’s energy policy.
Demand for floating LNG projects is soaring, both in gas importing countries and gas-producing nations, as energy security and ways to curb skyrocketing energy bills for industries and households top the energy policy agenda after it slashed gas supply to Europe earlier this year.
Investors are also more inclined to fund lower-cost, smaller offshore FLNG projects with quicker paybacks than huge onshore LNG facilities that take more than double the time to build.
“The reputation of floating LNG is definitely improving,” Fraser Carson, an analyst at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, told Bloomberg. “We are seeing lenders much more willing to provide financing for FLNG projects,” Carson added.
Over the past few months, FLNG projects have gathered momentum, both in producing and importing countries.
Earlier this month, Italy’s Eni announced the first shipment of LNG produced by Coral Sul FLNG from the Coral gas field in the ultra-deep waters of the Rovuma Basin off Mozambique. The project, sanctioned in 2017, came on stream after just five years, in line with the initial budget and schedule, despite the disruptions caused by Covid, the Italian energy major said.
In Europe, FSRUs are being set up in Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland. Eemshaven in the Netherlands and Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel in Germany are expected to be operational by the end of this year.
Currently, the faster and cheaper option to have more LNG import facilities is the hiring of FSRUs, Kaushal Ramesh, Senior Gas & LNG Analyst at Rystad Energy, told Financial Times’ Alan Livsey earlier this year.
“There are few use cases better suited to FSRUs than Europe’s situation right now,” Ramesh told FT.
Onshore LNG import facilities are much more expensive, take years to build, and ultimately, and they could remain stranded assets if Europe reaches its goal to cut gas consumption by 30% by 2030 and greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030—its interim target on the road to net-zero emissions by 2050.
So countries in northern Europe are now looking to charter FSRUs for LNG imports to secure gas supply for the next few winters until the EU makes meaningful progress in cutting gas consumption through energy efficiency measures and boosting hydrogen and renewable gas use.
For example, on the day in May on which it said it would cut off all gas supply to Finland effective immediately, Finland’s transmission network company Gasgrid Finland Oy and U.S.-based Excelerate Energy signed a ten-year lease agreement for the LNG terminal ship Exemplar to ensure sufficient gas supply in Finland.
“Leasing an LNG terminal vessel is extremely important, as it ensures security of supply for gas supplies in both Finland and Estonia,” Gasgrid CEO Olli Sipilä said at the time.
In the Netherlands, gas provider Gasunie built a floating LNG terminal in Eemshaven in the Groningen area, and commissioned it in September, just six months after concept.
Germany, for its part, has already chartered several FSRUs since May, with two of those, at Wilhelmshaven and at Brunsbüttel, expected to begin operations by the end of this year. Last week, Germany said it had completed the construction of the Wilhelmshaven floating LNG terminal.
Currently, Germany has six such FLNG terminals planned by the end of 2023. Those FSRUs will have the capacity to import around a third of Germany’s annual gas consumption, according to Reuters estimates.
True, FLNG projects have much lower production/import capacity than the large onshore plants. But they are the cheaper and faster alternative to meet short-to-medium term gas demand in Europe.
