Global engineering, procurement and construction firm Black & Veatch is well-positioned both in the LNG space and across the broader energy sector to capitalise on the energy transition and ensure the company’s continued growth, Brady Hays, senior vice president and managing director for the Kansas-based company’s fuels and natural resources sector, told NewsBase. 

 

Brady Hays, senior vice president and managing director for the fuels and natural resources sector at Black & Veatch

Pioneering floating LNG 

Black & Veatch has been providing its proprietary and patented PRICO technology for LNG trains for more than 50 years, while also often serving as an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for such projects. It has also established itself as a leader in floating LNG (FLNG) solutions that have emerged in the last decade as a means of developing smaller, stranded gas reserves that might otherwise be considered uneconomical, spurred on by fast-growing global LNG demand and technological innovation. Another key advantage of FLNGs is that they can be dispatched to other locations once production at one site winds up. 

“This is a sector that Black & Veatch has helped pioneer over the last eight years,” Hays said. “We were trying to grow into this mid-scale space that we felt was underserved, to create production units that could be used to access stranded gas where they aren’t trying to build mega-trains. The PRICO technology was a really good fit here.” 

PRICO was used at the world’s first FLNG to achieve test production – Belgium-based Exmar’s Tango vessel in 2016. The technology has been deployed at six floating projects that have reached final investment decision (FID) in total, including the operating 2.8mn-tpy Gimi and Hilli Episeyo vessels owned by Bermuda-based Golar and Petronas’ third 2mn-tpy FLNG in Malaysia, and the under-development 3mn-tpy Cedar LNG project in Canada and 3.5mn-tpy Golar MK II FLNG. 

The technology’s popularity offshore is down to Black & Veatch’s  focus optimising capital efficiency, bringing costs down to well under $1,000 per tonne, according to Hays. Recent onshore LNG project costs are typically higher than the floating LNG options. 

“There’s some real cost advantages to floating LNG, so we’re trying to take some of those ideas and efficiencies to the onshore modules, to build off what we’ve learned and done in the offshore floating world,” he said. 

At ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi on November 5, Black & Veatch announced a collaboration with Baker Hughes on using the latter’s LM9000 gas turbine and compression technology as another offering for mid-scale LNG projects. LM9000 is the most efficient aeroderivative gas turbine in its class, according to Baker Hughes, with a capacity of 65 MW+ with 44% efficiency in ISO conditions. It is suitable for both onshore and offshore LNG projects. 

Black & Veatch wanted to collaborate more with Baker Hughes to help optimise the standard liquefaction module it offers, using the LM9000 though maintaining the option of using other turbines instead. The LM9000 was chosen as an additional technology option for its clients partly because it had a really good emissions profile, he said. 

 

Well-positioned across molecules and electrons 

Hays expects demand for mid-scale LNG liquefaction solutions to remain high, either for expansions at existing projects or newbuilds, on the back of continued growth in LNG demand. 

“We’re still very bullish on natural gas. We expect LNG exports to  continue growing through 2040 in order to service a lot of the international markets that need natural gas through the energy transition for baseload power, for industrial and commercial uses,” he said.  

As a result of high demand for gas-fired power plants, Black & Veatch’s power generation business is currently busy and in high demand, according to Hays. 

This is not the only growth area for Black & Veatch in energy. The company has seen “tremendous growth” in its renewables business, for example, where it primarily serves as a solar EPC contractor and has become a “tier one player” in the field, he said. 

Black & Veatch also sees continued momentum for low-carbon ammonia and hydrogen that is produced from natural gas, particularly in Japan and South Korea. It is currently working on various front-end engineering design (FEED) studies for blue ammonia and hydrogen projects, but FIDs in this field are still rare, according to Hays. 

Black & Veatch also works in other energy sectors including hydrogen, ammonia, nuclear, geothermal and sustainable aviation fuel. 

“Black & Veatch is really well-positioned, across both molecules – whether it’s natural gas and LNG or hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and sustainable aviation fuels – and electrons, at the heart of a lot of the mega-trends going around electrification, decarbonisation and the overall energy transition,” he said. “We’re pretty optimistic that the growth we’ve seen over the last couple of years is going to continue for us.”

This interview is published in NewsBase's GLNG Monitor, which provides news and analysis for the global LNG industry. Sign up for a two-week trial for GLNG or one of our other energy monitors here.