The Future of Floating LNG with Black & Veatch

The floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) sector is still relatively small, but it’s growing fast as demand for natural gas, flexibility and new technologies reshape offshore project strategies.

In this episode of Setting Course, an ABS Podcast, host Brad Cox talks with Kyle Haberberger from Black & Veatch and Terrance Roberts from ABS about where FLNG is taking off, how it compares with traditional onshore liquefaction, lessons from the FPSO sector and the digital tools driving the next wave of FLNG projects.

Share this episode on social media, leave a review on your favorite podcast platform or send feedback to podcast@eagle.org. Learn more about how ABS is supporting the maritime industry at www.eagle.org. 

Key Points

• Floating LNG is a fast growing segment of the energy market.
• FLNG offers flexibility and resilience in energy supply.
• Existing FLNG units are being redeployed to meet new demands.
• Digital tools and automation are enhancing FLNG operations.
• Nearshore FLNG projects are addressing local environmental concerns.

Guests

Kyle Haberberger is a Business Development professional at Black & Veatch, specializing in the LNG and FLNG markets. He brings a strong process engineering background to commercial strategy, supporting clients across the full LNG value chain, including liquefaction, floating LNG (FLNG), and regasification solutions.  Kyle has contributed to a range of global energy projects, including Golar Hilli FLNG and Exmar Tango, where he has supported technical-commercial alignment and client engagement efforts.  He holds a degree from the University of Missouri–Columbia and is based in Overland Park, Kansas. Kyle works closely with cross‑functional engineering and commercial teams to help clients navigate complex LNG project development challenges and advance pragmatic, scalable energy solutions. He is also the author of a liquefaction patent involving the company’s proprietary PRICO® Process. 

Terrance Roberts is a Business Development Manager in Global Offshore for ABS and leads business development for the FLNG sector. He works with projects developers around the world to match their projects with the right classification and technical advisory services, helping them bring FLNG concepts to market with more confidence.

Transcript

Brad Cox (00:07)
Welcome to Setting Course, an ABS Podcast, where we're charting the future of the marine and offshore industries. I'm your host, Brad Cox, and today we're going to be talking about floating liquefied natural gas units. We've talked a little bit about floating production on the show before, and FLNG is actually a type of FPSO that produces LNG above an offshore natural gas field. It's a relatively small and new slice of the industry, but it's expected to grow fast within the next five, 10 years.

Playing a key part in that growth is Black & Veatch, a global engineering, procurement, and construction company that delivers critical human infrastructure across the power, water, and fuels industries. 

Joining us today from Black & Veatch is Kyle Haberberger, who specializes in LNG and FLNG business development. Drawing on deep roots in process engineering, he helps developers around the world navigate complex projects across the full LNG value chain. Welcome to the show, Kyle.

Kyle Haberberger (00:55)
Thanks, Brad.

Brad Cox (00:56)
And joining me here in the studio at ABS HQ is the ABS FLNG business development lead, Terrance Roberts. Terrance works with project developers around the world to match their projects with the right classification and technical advisory services, helping them bring FLNG concepts to market with more confidence. Welcome, Terrance.

Terrance Roberts (01:13)
Thanks, Brad. Happy to be here.

Brad Cox (01:14)
So let's jump right in. Kyle, from where you sit at Black & Veatch, what are the big LNG and FLNG trends you're seeing in the project pipeline right now, and what's driving that interest?

Kyle Haberberger (01:25)
Yeah, thanks, Brad. I think I might start with the second part of your question there on what's driving the interest. So, right now there's a huge shift in the global energy market toward using natural gas for stable baseload energy. We have a lot of different trends with AI — we hear about data centers all the time — electrification, but also just a huge amount of the world coming out of what we would call energy poverty. Most people don't realize there's still over a billion people in the world without access to stable electricity. And as those folks come out of that, we really need to find some way to power their growing needs.

There's going to be a huge mix of what it means to create that power, but for most of the world, the most stable and the most cost-effective form of that energy is going to be natural gas. And so, what that means for the LNG industry and folks like Terrance and I who are working in it is we're very busy with a lot of different projects getting developed all around the world. The different trends that we see, you know, a lot of people probably have heard there's a lot of projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast happening right now.

There's a lot of projects in Qatar, which are kind of like the base load of development for the industry. But what I like to focus on at Black & Veatch is floating LNG, which is an exciting market. And really what that means is it's a slightly smaller type development and it gives you access to maybe less developed gas reserves, gas reserves that you might have thought weren't economical to put a huge base load type facility on.

So that's exciting. Right now, Black & Veatch has six different facilities, either under construction or operating for floating LNG right now. And those are producing on four different continents and a lot of different geographies, a lot of different locations. So, really a lot of growth and a lot of opportunity for gas all around the world.

Brad Cox (02:58)
Thanks, Kyle. So, Terrance, when you look at the existing fleet and the orderbook, from an ABS perspective, what stands out to you? Kyle mentioned those new projects, but what about resilience in that existing fleet?

Terrance Roberts (03:10)
Yeah, thank you. I think that's a good question. And to kind of piggyback off of what Kyle said, you have to kind of look at it from a holistic view. As global energy demand kind of grows, people are looking for safer, cleaner solutions, and a lot of people are looking at LNG as kind of a bridge. 

So, from an existing fleet, I think what we've started to see is that those units are now entering stages that they're being redeployed. And I think that's a very important factor for FLNGs to kind of mention that although they're supposed to be permanently moored or fixed solutions, we're starting to see a lot of the existing fleet being relocated to meet some of those global energy demands that are popping up. 

Kyle mentioned recently there's been a lot of changes to the market, the political conflicts in Europe have shined a very big light on the LNG industry with the demand surging in Europe. You have a lot of other emerging markets like China, India. And the thing about these markets is they may not have the infrastructure to warrant an onshore plant or even just a large mega-scale LNG facility in those environments. So, what you're seeing is that these FLNGs are getting new life. They're being able to be redeployed in new situations to provide more energy security to some of these regions. So, I think that is a big trend that we will see more and more going forward when it comes to conceptual designs and things like that as well.

Kyle Haberberger (04:32)
And I'd love to tag on, Terrance, to talk about this. This is something super exciting that we're seeing at Black & Veatch right now. Because really it's all about addressing risk and uncertainty. Unfortunately, we live in a world that feels like there's more geopolitical risk every single day. Having a huge multi-billion dollar asset that you can pick up the anchor and move is a huge differentiator in the market. It gives a massive amount of commercial flexibility. 

Originally when we used to talk about vessels redeploying around the world, most people 10 years ago thought that, you're not actually going to be able to pull that off. It's just a nice thing you might mention. But we have multiple examples of this happening in the industry now. The Tango FLNG has moved twice. Petronas' PFLNG1 has moved. The Golar Hilli is scheduled to leave Cameroon and go to Argentina later this year. And so, I think we've really proven that this is a very unique aspect to this type of technology and as long as you design for it in advance and you use the right technology, this sky’s the limit for the different opportunities you can find.

Terrance Roberts (05:31)
Yeah, and Kyle, I think you mentioned something too, a key word that I've been hearing a lot. I recently attended the LNG 2026 event in Qatar, in Doha, and flexibility was a word that was used quite a bit. Because as you mentioned, the need or the demand has kind of shifted. Initially it was a lot of these long-term projects onshore, big projects. They were thinking, well, everything is going to go to China or everything is going to go to Asia. Well, what we saw in the past couple of years is that their demand has actually decreased. And if you look at imports from LNG, that's even decreased as well. So, I think what you're starting to see is that flexibility is something that's being built into these projects a lot sooner. And that's changed a lot of the design as well, which I'm sure we're going to talk about that a little bit later. But it's an important piece to mention that flexibility is a key word when we're talking about FLNGs.

Brad Cox (06:17)
So, I think that really segues nicely into this. So, Kyle, when you talk to project stakeholders, what makes FLNG compelling compared to adding more onshore capacity? You mentioned the flexibility, but is it the timeline, the ability to convert existing assets or is it something else?

Kyle Haberberger (06:32)
Yeah, I'd say it's a few different things. Most of the time when you're talking to a project developer, it's how do we put together a project that isolates you from risk? And so, floating LNG is a great opportunity to isolate from that risk. In the world today, we talk a lot about a labor availability problem, a security problem, maybe you have hard access to your site or you have an inability to do a lot of site work. And so doing FLNG can help solve a lot of those problems in a very cost-efficient manner.

A benefit for us when we're building one of these facilities is you're doing almost all of the construction in a shipyard. That's a controlled environment where you have really high quality, you have a guaranteed skilled labor force. And so having some of those advantages is a real game changer in the industry. As we look at floating LNG and addressing where we're going to go or an onshore facility, we originally developed this industry for dealing with offshore stranded gas and only using it for that, but now it's how do we look at risk and how do we isolate ourselves from risk as best as possible?

Brad Cox (07:29)
And Terrance, from the ABS side, obviously not involved in the onshore things, but what are you hearing from clients who are weighing onshore projects against FLNG solutions? What are the key factors they're focused on when they come to you, and how do class societies help make these floating concepts viable?

Terrance Roberts (07:45)
Yeah, that's very good question, Brad. And I think Kyle mentioned it a little bit to where initially people were looking at onshore plants as the only way to do LNG exports. Another thing to mention is that these FLNGs are ways for these countries or these states to monetize offshore gas that's typically stranded. So, it opens up a completely new market for them to have that revenue stream and then that export capabilities. 

We're seeing a lot of that in these areas where you don't necessarily have the funding or the infrastructure. Kyle mentioned something about safety where you may not have all of the right ingredients to put a natural gas plant on shore. So FLNG is becoming a popular solution for that. 

And I think the other thing that we want to touch on too is just about kind of the risk and things like that. So, risks are also around some of the geopolitical things as well, right? Because a lot of these plants or these projects take years. So, what you'll see is a lot of times where there is a change in administration or change in views that a lot of these projects can potentially be shelved. So, what you want to do is you want to try and get the project off the ground and moving as fast as possible. So, if you look at FLNG as an alternative or a solution to that, what we're seeing is that investors are getting a lot quicker ROI with these FLNG solutions. There's a couple factors that are kind of playing into that. And I think what we're to see over the next couple of years is that people aren't just looking at FLNG as an alternative or as a niche solution, but it's actually becoming the solution in some of these areas. And that is the kind of sentiment that I'm hearing growing throughout the market.

Kyle Haberberger (09:18)
Yeah, I would agree. I think Terrance, when you're talking about new markets that are popping up and some of the different projects around the world, something I was thinking about too is some of the listeners might not realize that in floating LNG also we're not just building brand new floating LNGs. We actually are converting old LNG carriers into new solutions. So, you know, a lot of these new facilities are coming online. There's new technology of LNG carriers. They're getting larger. They're getting more efficient. And that's great, but unfortunately, what that means is there's an entire old fleet of LNG carriers that is potentially going to go to a scrap yard. And so some folks, one of our clients that we work with, Golar, right now has three different floating LNGs that are using old LNG carriers that are converted into floating LNG facilities now. And these are really impressive pieces of infrastructure. And when you think about circular economy and reusing assets and being good stewards for our environment and making sure we're not just getting rid of old assets, this is a really exciting part of the industry that's developing.

Terrance Roberts (10:13)
I'd like to just add to that too, Kyle. That's a very good point about the conversions and things as well. You may know more about this than me, but the first FLNG unit was massive, right? It was very large, it was offshore, it was very, very complex. You're starting to see that becoming a more popular option, right? Because these LNG carriers, like you said, you don't want to waste or scrap an old vessel, you're seeing it repurposed. And there's life extensions and things like that that ABS can kind of come in and work with clients to evaluate those options. 

So, from that standpoint, we are helping them mitigate risk, whether it is determining if it's going to be a new build for this particular application, or if a conversion would actually work. And even from that standpoint, if the conversion or the vessel in question is worthy. I'll give you an example. We're working on a project currently where they are converting two previously classed ABS LNGC carriers from the 70s. And they're using them as a repurpose for floating liquefaction of storage, but it's considered a floating LNG solution. So that's a very good point. And that's something that I think, again, we'll see those trends kind of pick up here as the FLNG market matures and it starts to take a little bit more shape over the next couple years or the decade as we're expecting it to grow.

Brad Cox (11:25)
So, timelines were mentioned as a key point there. What's the difference between floating versus onshore? I mean, obviously, building a ship from scratch can take years, but how does that compare to building an onshore facility?

Kyle Haberberger (11:40)
Yeah, so a lot of times when we're talking about floating LNG, comparing it to onshore, there are schedule advantages. You can do some development in parallel. You can build the hull structure while you're also building top sides, modules potentially, at the same time and in parallel. And so, a lot of schedule efficiencies that happen then. And so, I think originally, for the last 10 years, I've always sold that we can get a floating LNG to a site quicker than you might be able to build an onshore facility.

I would say an interesting moment we're in right now in the industry though is the supply chain is very strained with a lot of the different things happening. I'm sure you guys have had a podcast about it, but I mentioned AI earlier and the data center boom. And unfortunately that's just trickling into every single part of building infrastructure these days. So, when I go to get a gas turbine or a large piece of rotating equipment that needs to be on one of these facilities, the lead times are more than double what they used to be. 

And so some of these old schedule promises are tough in today's market, but you can still deliver a project really quick. You just need to make sure that you're working with the right folks who understand these complex supply chains, can guide you through the process on do we need to be pre-ordering equipment early? How do we fit this in and constructability so that it can maybe go in later than what we used to have it come in and it was expected? And I think having the right contractor and the right partners in a project who understand those complexities is really key to making sure that we can still deliver on those original schedule promises that we were making many years ago.

Brad Cox (13:06)
Okay, great. So, I want to pivot a little bit here and maybe look at some of the, I guess, misconceptions. So, Kyle, what are you seeing in the design of newer FLNG projects that help address some of the early skepticism around the concept? Whether that's complexity, operability, or just overall risk.

Kyle Haberberger (13:21)
Yeah, so I'd say right now the industry is a little over a decade old. And so when I was giving a sales pitch for floating LNG 10 years ago, there was a lot of questions. Can we really put a liquefaction technology on the top sides? How do we deal with wave motions offshore? How are we going to do offloading with two carriers side by side? We have 13 different projects that are either operating or under construction now globally. That's not just Black & Veatch, but the whole industry.

People have kind of bought in that this is something that works. It's really not a huge leap of technology. You know we had FPSOs in the past. FLNG technology isn't all that different to be using it. So, people are really leaning in now where we used to say, let's keep it simple. Let's do what's tried and true. Let's not take a ton of risk with technological advancements. And now we're moving into an age where everyone wants to put all the latest bells and whistles on their projects. You know, how can we use things like electrification, how can we do more automation, how do we implement digital twins to be smarter about how we're operating our facilities? So that's a really exciting time to be a part of the projects because, you know, at first we went with simple and we went with what works and now you can get a little more interesting with your designs and talk to clients about what potential options are out there.

Brad Cox (14:31)
Yeah, so you mentioned 10 years. Ten years can be a long time for some people or can be a short time. I think in the grand scope of maritime and offshore energy, it's a very short amount of time. Obviously, FPSOs have been fairly mature — were working for decades before that. So, Terrance, what lessons from the FPSO sector are you seeing applied to FLNG to help get these projects where they need to be?

Terrance Roberts (14:52)
Yeah, that's a very good question. From an experience standpoint with ABS, and Kyle kind of touched on it a bit earlier, where he mentioned that there's only about, what, eight operational, seven or eight operational FLNGs, maybe 13 or 14 under construction and a long list of proposed projects.

So, from that sense, FLNGs are very new. And a lot of them are going to be the first in the area. So, you don't have lot of experience from an offshore perspective with regulatory authorities or coastal states having experience with that. So, what ABS is able to do in those spaces is we're able to come in and use our experience from FPSOs and translate over to the FLNG space. Because as you all have kind of mentioned earlier, that there are a lot of similarities. So, we can translate some of that over into our offshore rules and guidelines to be applied to FLNG. We're doing that in a lot of these emerging markets where they are just starting to develop their offshore requirements and things like that. ABS can help develop some of those early questions and design criteria when you're looking at FLNGs based off of our FPSO experiences.

Kyle Haberberger (15:55)
And to tag on to what you said a little bit there, Terrance, you know it isn't a very big industry. There's, you know, by my count, only 13 projects under construction. I think there's maybe one or two that might start soon. And that means there's really not a lot of contractors out there who have who've done the work and, you know, to do a selfish plug, both ABS and Black & Veatch have been a part of this from the beginning. And so, you know, a lot of experience to draw in there and making sure that you have the right people having the right conversations for what is possible. What has worked in the past.

Black & Veatch is on our sixth FLNG facility now. So, I like to think that we've tried a little bit of everything on different configurations, different locations, offshore, nearshore, gas turbine, electric drive. And so, making sure that you have the right people to make the right decisions early in the project is key to being successful. Because once you make these decisions years before you ever take FID on a project, you're kind of stuck with them. So, you need to make sure that the fundamentals are sound and that your economic case is good.

Brad Cox (16:49)
And Kyle, you mentioned the bells and whistles earlier. On that project development and process side, where are you seeing things like digital tools, data analytics and automation making the biggest difference for FLNG?

Kyle Haberberger (17:01)
Yeah, I think in general we're seeing a lot of people trying to embrace the digital age here. Kind of originally, like I said, a lot of people wanted to keep it simple. We didn't want to go crazy with what we were doing, but we're seeing a lot of things like remote operations, a huge push for using the different digital aspects as a safety push.

You know, we're in the oil and gas industry in floating LNG and we have a great safety culture in general around the industry. And then you pair that with the offshore industry, even greater focus on safety culture. And so, the focus is really how can we use all of these different technologies and tools to make our facilities safer, to use less operations on the vessel. You know, maybe we'll do more remote operations, we'll automate more systems, we can do less maintenance if we can elongate our turnaround times by using digital twins and understanding when we're going to have issues, then we don't have to have as many crews. So, I think that's really the biggest push that we've seen is how do we use some of the technology to make the facilities safer? 

I might also touch that we're seeing a huge push at Black & Veatch in the cybersecurity space for these vessels. These types of industrial facilities have a lot of physical hardware and it takes a certain expertise to understand how that works. But then there's this interface with the world of cyber that's happening every day. And so how IT and OT crosses over and blends together is getting really complex. And I think a lot of developers are realizing it's a really large risk in the world today. So, at Black & Veatch, we have a special team who works on cybersecurity, but we're also an EPC who builds these projects. So, we're talking with a lot of clients about And so, we’re looking at how to understand those two worlds that are very different and how do you blend them together and how do you do that in a cost-effective way that mitigates your risk and gives you a project that can work for many years in the future.

Brad Cox (18:35)
Yeah, and I think from the overall technology side, there's maybe little bit of an intersection here with Black & Veatch's PRICO technology. Can you walk us through what that is and how it's factoring into FLNG's growth?

Kyle Haberberger (18:47)
Yeah, I'd love to give a plug for our PRICO technology. Black & Veatch is a little unique because we own a liquefaction technology, like you said, called PRICO, but we're also an EPC company. So not to get too terribly technical, but PRICO is a single mixed refrigerant process that's used for cooling natural gas and turning it into a liquid. Some of the really great advantages that we love to sell on that are that it's compact, it's lightweight, and it's simple.

And while all those things are great in general, a lot of those are the reasons why we've been successful in floating LNG, because when you talk about using less space, weighing less, that's going to equal lower costs on your project. And then simple means safe. And at the end of the day, we have to be safe on these projects. So, we're really proud of how our process works and how we can do it with a low amount of operators. And I think our clients really appreciate that. We've seen that resonate in the market. I talked about 
13 different projects under construction in the industry or operating, Black & Veatch is on six of those projects. So, we've had a great run here, this little over a decade that the industry has been growing and been successful. And we're looking to build on that success in the future with a couple other projects in the pipeline. 

I think something interesting we're seeing as a trend with technology is when we started originally in floating LNG, we did a single train facility was our first FLNG, the Tango FLNG, then the Golar Hilli was our second, and that was a four train facility, but those trains were all smaller. We're seeing a push into larger liquefaction trains on floating LNG facilities now, and it's really about how much kind of production density can you fit into a fixed amount of space on the top side. 

So, Black & Veatch, we've been working really hard with our technology team to see, can we get two million tons a year out of a single lift module that we can do in the shipyard? Or how do you take your technology, that might be best in class, but how do you make it the most constructible so that when you do that module in the shipyard and you lift it onto the vessel, that there's minimal interconnects and you can really minimize that cost? So, we're really seeing kind of going from, you know, people have bought into the concept and people understand the technology and how do we maximize the output out of that technology.

Terrance Roberts (20:49)
If you don't mind, Brad, I'd like to kind of chime in on that. So, Kyle, you mentioned something about the output and getting more liquefaction. That's one of the questions I kind of wanted to pose to you and kind of chat about a little bit because from the first pioneers of the FLNG world to the newer versions of the FLNGs that are coming out now, one of the things that I'm hearing a lot is that they're more standardizable and that they're more modular. So, this makes it a little bit easier because you can have repeatability, right? Whereas some of the first projects or just these large, massive, floating giants that weren't really made to be repeated and things like that. So, can you kind of elaborate on what you're seeing from that size and what's kind of driving that shift? Is it cost or is it more LNG export capacity or is it just we've learned our lessons and we don't need such a big floating behemoth anymore and you can get the same type of monetization from stranded gas from a smaller vessel?

Kyle Haberberger (21:44)
It is an interesting trend and I definitely agree with that. You know, one of the first facilities that got built was really large. It did raw well gas treating all the way through liquids handling and then LNG production. And we saw a little bit of a trend moving away from that, whereas it's more just a liquefier type vessel, I would say. You know, maybe there is some liquids handling, but it's very minor on the front end and kind of simplifying those operations. 

We've also seen a couple of projects where if you do have true well head gas, then maybe you do an FPSO and then you do an FLNG after the FPSO. You know, BP did that at their Greater Tortue development that one of Black & Veatch’s vessels, the Golar Gimi, is operating at right now. And so that was really successful where I think we took this concept of the industry is really good at FPSOs and we know what we're doing. So, we're going to build one of those with qualified contractors who can do something on a quick schedule and it's in their wheelhouse. And then we're also really good at FLNG for liquefaction. And so, we can do a purpose-built vessel using a converted LNG carrier. We can optimize that resource and we can make liquefaction that way. 

And that ends up just being simpler to manage than doing one kind of all-in-one enormous project. And I know sometimes that's hard to think about, but when you think about having to put all of this infrastructure on a single vessel, you're talking about some of the biggest vessels that have ever been built in the entire world. And so, that's just not very efficient to build the biggest ship ever been built every time we do one of these. You know, I think there's a sweet spot. And so, a certain, you know, building the right size carrier, having that right amount of footprint. And then once you have understood, oh, this is the optimal size for making a floating LNG when you're pairing it with storage. Well, now how do I go and optimize what I'm putting on the top sides? How do I make sure I'm getting the most out of that? And you kind of hit the sweet spots in all of those different parts.

Terrance Roberts (23:27)
That's a good point. And I just wanted to add to that too, is just that another thing that we're starting to see, and we haven't necessarily touched on it yet, is the near shore option as well, right? Where you have some of the modules or maybe power coming from shore, allowing more space on the actual vessel itself for either liquefaction or whatever you need. Do you think that that is something of a trend that we will see more of? Or I guess it does kind of depend on where the gas is coming from and things like that.

We're seeing that those type of projects are coming up a lot more — where you have that interface between onshore, whether it's regassed, power or whatever, and then an offshore liquefaction unit. What my question would be to you is do you see that trend continuing where it's applicable? And is that something that you guys are looking at to where you can add more liquefaction trains to an FLNG in those situations?

Kyle Haberberger (24:16)
Near shore floating LNG is absolutely a trend that's kind of taking off in the industry right now and we see a lot of growth. I touched on this a little bit earlier, but when we first started this industry, it was about how do we put a floating facility on top of an offshore well to monetize that gas? And that was a great use case, and that still holds true today. There's still a lot of economic value there. But what we're seeing with floating LNG now is it's not just about monetizing stranded gas. It's about how do you address risk on a project to make something economical? 

A great example is Black & Veatch is working on the Cedar LNG project right now up in British Columbia, Canada. And so, for that project, it's a project that's majority owned by the First Nations up there. Tearing up the land and having onshore construction in the middle of a remote area of Canada is something that's not very cost effective. And then culturally with that First Nation is just not something that they're willing to accept. Some of that land and that water is sacred for those people.

They wanted to find a way to make money off the gas that they have available to them. And so floating LNG is a great option to address those problems and still be able to do it in an economic way.

And so we're really able to take a smaller development there in a region that was previously kind of seen as maybe not possible to develop a facility. Rather than developing a 20 MTPA huge export facility in order to get the economies of scale and drive the price down, we're able to do it on a much smaller basis with a floating LNG facility. And I think that that concept in general rings true around the whole world. And it just depends on how you're going to address your risk. 

So, we have multiple projects in Canada that are addressing that very same risk. There's not a lot of labor there, and it's hard to do construction on the land when the land is sacred, so near shore floating LNG is great. But in other areas of the world, maybe there's a security risk. We see a couple of different floating LNGs that are going into different places in Africa right now, rather than onshore developments. And so, being able to build that somewhere else, not have to bring in a large labor camp and deal with the security concerns, floating LNG is a great way to deal with that risk.

So it's really, like I said, it's a conversation of how do we address that risk and how do we make a project make sense financially. And that's what's driving these trends in the industry.

Brad Cox (26:24)
Those were great questions, Terrance. Keeping us moving along here, I'd like to talk about the long term. So, Kyle, when you think 5-10 years out, how do you see FLNG fitting into the broader LNG and gas value chain? And what are the next big trends that will get FLNG there?

Kyle Haberberger (26:40)
Yeah, so I always like to say that I think at this point, floating LNG is definitely part of the long-term energy solution. We're a young but growing part of the market, and we're here to stay. We're hoping there's more projects to come. But I don't want anyone to ever think that floating LNG is going to displace onshore LNG. Onshore LNG is here to stay. The world still needs 10, 20 MTPA facilities to have baseload supply. But I just think that there's enough smart, savvy investors around the world who have assets that they want to develop that floating LNG has its place and it's here to stay. So, that's super exciting and we're looking forward to that growth. 

But when we think about growth and floating LNG at Black & Veatch, what I actually get really excited about is all of the tangential industries for other infrastructure that can be developed using the exact same concepts that we've highlighted here today. So, I talk a lot to developers about how do we do floating hydrogen? What about floating green or blue ammonia? What about floating methanol? If you want to get me really excited, we can talk about floating nuclear. I'm a huge nuclear guy. We would need a whole other podcast to get into how excited I can get about that technology. But how could we put an SMR on a vessel and be able to float it to a city center near a body of water and provide clean power for that city? 

I think all of these things that I'm talking about of addressing risk and making projects more economical and finding creative solutions to problems, I think floating infrastructure has a great answer for all of these things. So, you know, at Black & Veatch, when we think about the future, we're thinking about how do we build on the success that we've had in the floating LNG industry and just put it to all the different critical human infrastructure that we love to work on.

Brad Cox (28:13)
And Terrance, what is the long-term trajectory of FLNG look like to you? How do you see these assets evolving as technology, regulations and expectations around energy continue to change?

Terrance Roberts (28:23)
Yeah, that’s a good question. I’ll kind of touch on some of the things that Kyle said. As we've seen the market shift and, the LNG demand grow, the demand is outpacing infrastructure at this point. I think that you will see a lot more floating solutions out there. Kyle touched on some of these other ones like ammonia and nuclear and things like that, which ABS is also getting involved in those as well. So, a lot of this technology and a lot of this application, I guess if you want to call it that, of floating liquefaction can be translated to some of these other markets, like you mentioned. 

We're working with a few clients now that are doing some liquid CO2 injection facilities and it's very similar from an FLNG standpoint or FPSO standpoint. So, we're able to apply those lessons learned from our FPSO or just any offshore experience I guess in a floating space to some of those newer technologies. One of the things that we're starting to see now is that the shift from FLNGs as a new or niche or as an alternative, it's becoming more of a first thought solution for a lot of these places.

Kyle, you kind of touched on it a little bit when you mentioned some of these areas like Africa, these other areas where you may have some challenges to build or, I’m not even going to say build, but you just may not have the resources to have an onshore facility. Whether it's enough gas, security risk, like you mentioned, regulatory issues, geopolitical, whatever, we're seeing that a lot of developers are looking at FLNG specifically for some of those things you mentioned.

It's a lot faster. It can be safer. And when I say faster, I mean faster to market and a return of investment. Because you have a little bit less construction time, you can be a little bit more controlled with the modularization of some of these top sides like Kyle mentioned. And I think that trend will just continue to grow. 

And then there's another thing that you mentioned too, Kyle, that I think is going to help drive this, is it kind of tying back into the technical side of it, right? We're seeing a lot of data centers starting to pop up, and the turbines and things like that, but there's also going to be that demand for more gas for those as well. There could be a point where we're looking at maybe floating data centers. I don't know. It's something that we've talked about here at ABS. We're seeing that those trends are starting to become more and more popular from our clients and project developers.


Brad Cox (30:31)
So, before we wrap up, I want to leave listeners with a couple of closing thoughts from each of you. Kyle, for developers and stakeholders who are curious about FLNG, what's the one takeaway you'd want them to leave with about the opportunity or reality of floating LNG today?

Kyle Haberberger (30:46)
Yeah, I think I'd want to just leave people with the fact that floating LNG is here. It's been here for over 10 years and it's a firm part of the energy solution moving forward. Anytime you have a gas resource and you want to look at development, think floating LNG, Terrance mentioned it, it should be part of your initial question, is this my best option for development? I think we've proven the concept and it's just a really unique part of the industry to address the different risks that you might have on a project. So, I think from stage one, if you're looking to develop a project, we can compare onshore to offshore, we compare onshore to nearshore and see how can floating LNG be a solution to your problem.

Brad Cox (31:22)
And Terrance, from the ABS side, what's the key message you'd want operators or project teams to hear about how to approach FLNG in a way that sets them up for safer, more successful operations?

Terrance Roberts (31:32)
Yeah, I think today's conversation really showed how far FLNG has come. We've moved from massive one-off vessels to flexible modular designs that developers can kind of scale and replicate across projects. And we're seeing a wider range of capacities and there's a lot that's kind of changing in this industry. It's a lot more mature now. There's a lot more technically robust solutions. And I think with that trend, if it continues, we'll start to see a lot more growth in the FLNG market and space. One of the key things is you should definitely reach out to one of the experts early in the process to start looking at a project from whether it should be an onshore facility or offshore facility, as we've mentioned. FLNG is a real solution now. It's not just a niche and I think that's kind of the trend I'd like to see going forward.

Brad Cox (32:17)
So, that's a great note to end on. So, today, we've looked at where FLNG fits in the evolving LNG market, why developers are giving floating solutions a harder look, and how new technology and operating models are shaping what comes next. So, Kyle, Terrance, thank you both for your insights today. And a special thanks to Black & Veatch for joining us. 

Kyle Haberberger (32:36)
Thanks, Brad.

Terrance Roberts (32:37)
Thank you, Brad, and thank you, Kyle and Black & Veatch, and thank you guys for listening.

Brad Cox (32:41)
And for everybody listening, thank you for joining us for another episode of Setting Course. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode. To learn more about how ABS is supporting the LNG value chain, visit us at www.eagle.org. Thank you for listening.