Malaysia’s PETRONAS and UOP Cooperate on Gas Processing Technology

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that it will collaborate with Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), on natural gas processing technology.

The joint development program is focused on technology to overcome challenges faced by producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as they seek to monetize natural gas more economically by moving gas processing from onshore facilities to ships that will moor closer to offshore gas fields.

The program will center on advanced carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption technology to improve the reliability of equipment used to remove contaminants from natural gas before it is liquefied, while also reducing the weight and footprint of the equipment onboard ships. Technical improvements developed to better meet LNG specifications may also be deployed in the next generation of onshore and offshore gas processing equipment.

“The joint program with PETRONAS is another example of how UOP is committed to developing gas processing innovations to meet the growing global demand for natural gas, especially in Southeast Asia,” said Rebecca Liebert, vice president and general manager for the Gas Processing and Hydrogen unit of Honeywell’s UOP. “We look forward to a successful joint effort with PETRONAS, a recognized leader in natural gas in Asia.”

PETRONAS is a fully integrated oil and gas company and its Gas & Power Business is engaged in the processing, liquefaction, transmission, marketing and trading of natural gas and LNG.

As part of the joint program, PETRONAS and UOP scientists will work on designs for next-generation equipment to overcome challenges posed by gas treatment onboard ships, and the two companies will design and build a land-based pilot plant to demonstrate the technology.

Natural gas is the world’s fastest-growing fossil fuel, with annual consumption expected to reach 160 trillion cubic feet by 2035. Nearly 35 percent of the world’s demand growth for natural gas during that time will come from Asia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Producers are increasingly seeking new technology for liquefying natural gas, which is needed to transport natural gas by ship to regions that cannot be served by domestic production or pipelines. Natural gas extracted from wells often contains a variety of contaminants at levels that must be removed before the gas can be liquefied, stored or transported.

Honeywell’s UOP offers technology, equipment and materials to extract contaminants such as CO2, hydrogen sulfide, mercury and water prior to liquefaction, or remove trace sulfur compounds from the feed gas to create cleaner-burning natural gas. Honeywell’s UOP has developed solutions for more than 3,600 individual process units for gas processing in a broad range of applications, including new applications such as Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels that recover oil and natural gas from offshore wells.

Honeywell’s UOP has increased business activities in Southeast Asia during the past five years. In June 2008, it established a gas processing design center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that designs and delivers fabricated skid-mounted gas processing plants. In May 2012, it opened a manufacturing and operations center in Penang, Malaysia, to produce natural gas purification membrane elements.

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Press Release, September 26, 2012