Japan’s JGC Corporation has signed a cooperation agreement with China’s Offshore Oil Engineering Co. (COOEC) to mutually develop projects using “the module method.” JGC said on Friday that the agreement was for five years.
According to JGC, both companies will cooperate in new orders for oil, gas, and chemical plants that adopt the module method as well as FLNG and FPSO vessels.
The module method is a method of separating plants into multiple functional units that are fabricated in a third country other than the final construction location, with the assembly of one plant at the final construction location after transporting the units by a large ship.
The method of fabricating each functional unit for topside facilities as modules, with each module ultimately connected over the hull is generally used for FPSO construction.
The Japanese company added that there was a growing trend for projects requiring the adoption of the module method, such as projects involving difficult construction work because of locations with challenging natural environments and regions where it is difficult to secure workers.
Also, high labor costs are a constraint on realizing projects in the U.S., where there have been many plans to construct large-scale LNG and petrochemical plants since the shale revolution, and the adoption of the module method could minimize the construction work at the construction location, JGC said..
JGC has previously used the module method for large-scale plant construction projects such as the Gorgon LNG project and Ichthys LNG project in Australia, and the Yamal LNG project in Russia.