New Fortress Energy plans to turn jack-up rigs into offshore LNG plants
In a $31m cash deal, New Fortress Energy has bought the laid up rigs Maersk Guardian and Maersk Gallant and says it has plans to convert them into mobile LNG liquefaction plants.
Natural gas equipment and logistics company New Fortress Energy has purchased two Maersk Drilling jack-up rigs for refitting for its “fast LNG” concept. The company’s innovative approach to offshore gas field development uses a jack-up platform to carry the liquefaction gear instead of using a floating hull.
Wes Edens, New Fortress’ CEO and chairman said: “Our innovative Fast LNG liquefiers should allow us to produce LNG between an expected $3-4 MMBtu for our growing portfolio of terminals around the world.
“This technology can be installed quickly and cheaply to access stranded, low-cost natural gas at a fixed price to meet the global demand for more affordable, reliable and cleaner energy.”
New Fortress’ rigs will be smaller than previous FLNG facilities, but potentially more agile. The objective is to create an offshore liquefaction capability that can be deployed “anywhere there is abundant and stranded natural gas.”
