PETRONAS has awarded two Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contracts to a JGC Corporation-Samsung Heavy Industries consortium and to SAIPEM Spa for a nearshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Sabah.

The project is the first of its kind in Malaysia and its minimum planned capacity is 2.0 million tons per annum (MTPA). It is expected to be completed and ready to start by the end of 2026.

This came as a part of an international dual FEED design competition, which is expected to take place over a ten month period with the Final Investment Decision (FID) planned for the end of 2022. The winning FEED contractor will move to the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) phase.

On this occasion, PETRONAS Executive Vice President and CEO of Gas and New Energy Adnan Zainal Abidin said, “PETRONAS continues to provide greater access to cleaner energy sources such as natural gas. The development of Sabah’s first nearshore LNG plant reflects our technological expertise where we continue to innovate modern solutions to monetize gas resources in an optimized and environmental-friendly manner.”

Once it is completed, the plant will increase PETRONAS’ LNG production from floating LNG facilities from 2.7 MTPA to 4.7 MTPA. It should be noted that PETRONAS currently operates two floating LNG facilities, the PFLNG SATU and PFLNG DUA, at the Kebabangan and Rotan offshore gas fields respectively.