Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co (IHI) plans to build the world's first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, a daily newspaper said Sunday.
The comprehensive heavy machinery manufacturer hoped to complete the plant as early as 2005, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, quoting sources closed to the company.
The floating plant, which would be as large as a 300,000-tonne tanker, would be equipped with a system to pump the gas from under the seabed and to cool and liquefy it, the mass-circulation daily said.
Royal Dutch/Shell was also considering a floating plant to process LNG in the Timor Sea off Australia, the newspaper said. So far, liquefaction of natural gas has only been carried out on land.
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