International gas production companies are still vying to be the FLNG operators in Asia as the demand for energy in the region rises and oil prices pick up again.
According to The Australian, companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Inpex Corp, Exxon-Mobil and BHP Billiton are still in the running to develop the new technology.
FLNG technology turns gas into liquid whilst still on board a vessel, as opposed to piping gas back to the mainland for processing in a facility.
However, as with many new innovations, FLNG may come at a high cost.
"Floating liquefaction technology is deemed to be quite expensive," Richard Quinn, energy analyst at Australia's Wood Mackenzie was quoted as saying in The Australian. "How expensive is yet to be determined because no one has built a full scale FLNG boat yet," he said.
Mr Quinn said that the high cost has been the main deterrent for companies in the past, however, the rise in oil price before the crash, further emphasised by the LNG demand by Asian nations, is now serving as prime encouragement for companies to look seriously into the development of the technology.
Furthermore, FLNG may well provide the solution to gas field developments located far offshore. The Exxon-BHP Billiton joint venture, for example, has a Scarborough gas field located 270km off Barrow Island.
