Title:The Shell Prelude FLNG project takes a giant step forward - from YouTube
Duration: 7:58 minutes
Description:
Shell’s Prelude project at Samsung Shipyard in South Korea. A giant step forward is about to be takne.
The Shell Prelude FLNG project takes a giant step forward - from YouTubeTranscript
[Background music plays]
Upbeat electronic music
[Video footage]
Worker grinding metal with power tool causing many sparks to fly. Workers on bikes going past. Aerial view of shipyard. Time lapse video of floating liquid natural gas (FLNG) facility being build. Worker welding metal above him. Willie Gray walking along construction site. Willie Gray looking under hull with flashlight.
[Narration]
It’s a Friday afternoon at the Samsung Shipyard in South Korea, and a giant step forward in the creation of Shell’s Prelude project is about to be taken. Just three months ago, the keel was laid for the world’s first floating liquid natural gas facility, and one of the most ambitious engineering projects in the world of energy began to emerge. Today, Willie Gray is preparing for the next big milestone. His team is responsible for what the engineers like to call the substructure. Put simply, it’s the biggest hull ever built.
[Willie Gray]
This is part of the half-section. It’s 60,000 tons.
[Video footage]
Willie Gray looking around with flashlight. Willing walking around under hull.
[Narration]
For over a year now, Willie has been hard at it, working long hours to make sure it all takes shape.
[Text displays]
Willie Gray. Substructure Manager.
[Willie Gray]
My wife always complains that I’m married to Samsung and not to her. She’s actually just left today to go back to the UK. I’m not sure if tomorrow’s event’s got something to do with that.
[Video footage]
Shipyard with signs in Korean lettering.
[Narration]
Tomorrow, Willie’s team faces their biggest test yet in this daunting challenge.
[Background music plays]
Energetic guitar and drums rock music plays.
[Video footage]
Crew welding and walking around the yard. Bulldozer moving crate. Forklift moving gas tanks. Worker wearing Shell logo hard hat. Half-section with two big pink spherical tanks. Second half-section with big U-shaped gaps. Willie walking around inspecting pillars.
[Narration]
After months of sweat and toil and precision engineering, two sections of the enormous hull are set to be joined together. To do that, the 60,000 ton half-section must be transported across Geoje Harbour to join its twin. It’s an operation that will require all the skill of a surgeon, so Willie and the team are making doubly sure everything is in place.
[Text displays]
Arto Hopeakoski. Construction Quality Lead.
[Arto Hopeakoski]
There’s a few thousand blocks underneath keel blocks. If they are off the tolerance, then you may have a punctured bottom plate or some indents.
[Video footage]
Panning shot of keel blocks in harbor. Shot of half-section with two pink spherical tanks. Willie Gray in front of half section speaking to camera.
[Narration]
If all goes to plan, by Monday nearly half a kilometer of hull will be perched neatly on top of those blocks in the dry-dock. If it doesn’t, it could seriously jeopardize this world-first project.
[Willie Gray]
We’re not expecting that to happen, but we actually won’t find out until Monday morning, so I suppose there’ll be a few people that are maybe thinking about that a bit over the weekend.
[Background music plays]
Upbeat drum and bass music.
[Video footage]
People walking along a beach. Someone driving a personal water craft towing a canoe full of people. People in the water with inflatable rings.
[Narration]
It’s summer vacation in South Korea. The shipyard is almost entirely on holiday, except for the team working on Prelude.
[Background music plays]
Eerie, suspenseful music.
[Video footage]
Workers in shipyard turning valves and walking around. Aerial time lapse shot of shipyard at night, lit up with bright lights. Area near half-section with big tanks filling up with water. Willie Gray looking intently off at something. Shot of half-section floating on water in shipyard.
[Narration]
At midnight, the valves are opened, and the delicate process of sinking the floating dock begins. Millions of liters of water enter the ballast tanks beneath the surface. As the dock slowly submerges, for the first time the 60,000 ton structure begins to float. By daybreak, when Willie arrives, he’s greeted with this.
[Video footage]
Willie speaking to camera. Water pouring out of ship at bottom.
[Willie Gray]
Well, everything’s going quite well, actually. It has a little bit of a heel towards port side at the moment. That will be adjusted using the ballast pumpson board. We will see how that progresses and how long that’s going to take.
[Background music plays]
Eerie drum music.
[Video footage]
Time lapse of water flowing into dry-dock covering keel blocks. Dry-dock filling with water again in time lapse. Time lapse of floating gate being pulled away by boats. People biking, heat rising from the asphalt. Workers walking along a railing. D. U. Lee speaking with another engineer.
[Narration]
Over at the dry-dock, it’s a slightly different procedure. Water flows in, gradually easing the aft section off the keel blocks below, but things don’t go completely to plan. In the early hours, a small leak in the ballast tank force the operation to grind to a halt. Fortunately, the problem was quickly solved. At daybreak, everything is in place and the gates to the dry-dock now can be removed. By mid-day, conditions are heating up. Temperatures have soared into the high 30s. The Samsung project manager D.U. Lee is getting an update. He’s been working here for years, but has never built anything like this before.
[Text displays]
D. U. Lee. Samsung Heavy Industries.
[Video footage]
D. U. Lee speaking to camera.
[D. U. Lee]
The conditions are so calm. It is very, very useful to float for this project. So, I think God is helping us now.
[Video footage]
Workers chanting in Korean and doing a group huddle. Workers boarding a small boat. Boat with workers moving towards hull. Willie’s team of engineers looks on at the hull. Aerial shot of shipyard. Willie Gray speaking to camera with engineers in background.
[Narration]
At 1:00, the marine crew takes control, boarding the hull to prepare for the tugboats. No less than six will be needed for the job.
[Willie Gray]
This is the culmination of a lot of work for the shipyard, a lot of pre-planning. I think probably in about 30 or 40 minutes from now it should be entering into dry-dock number three.
[Background music plays]
Energetic rock music.
[Video footage]
Time lapse of tugboats pulling half-section across to other dry-dock. Cables connected across hull to secure it to the dock. Workers look on.
[Narration]
And right on schedule, the launch begins. The tugs navigate a 1.5 kilometer stretch of the harbor, then wrestle the hull through the gates of the dry-dock.
[Background music plays]
Gentle harp-sounding music.
[Video footage]
Engineers looking at the hull across the water. Panning shot of tugboat pulling half-section. Frank Groen speaking to camera. Panning shot showing height of hull.
[Narration]
Inside, the full scale of the project is beginning to emerge.
[Text displays]
Frank Groen. Production Coordinator.
[Frank Groen]
I think it really comes to light now, the size of the facility. You look at the top section on the top deck, you’ve got 40 meters above that yet, so, yes, it’s massive.
[Text displays]
Brent Geeves. Maintenance Coordinator.
[Brent Geeves]
So, you’ve got so many facets. You’ve got the marine piece with the hull structure, you’ve got the process piece which sits on top, as well as the communications piece. I’ve been around Shell for 32 years. This thing has got to be one of the biggest things I’ve ever seen in my life.
[Video footage]
Half-section in water pulled by tugboats. Sunset through evergreen trees. Half-section with big pink tanks floating on water.
[Narration]
It’s been 17 hours, and so far so good, but as the day draws to a close, one of the most critical parts of the whole operation is about to begin.
[Background music plays]
Suspenseful high-bass music.
[Video footage]
Red and white cables attaching hull to side of dock. Panning shot of cables attached to hull. Worker walking and speaking into radio, then signaling with hands. Time lapse of cables being attached and pulled to move hull into position at nighttime.
[Narration]
Hundreds of tension lines are hooked up. As water leaves the dry-dock, these ropes will be twisted and turned, gradually pulling the hull onto the heel blocks below. It’s a dangerous operation that needs to be carefully managed, and if one of the ropes were to snap, the consequences could be fatal. The procedure continues through the night. It will be morning before the Prelude team can truly gauge its success.
[Video footage]
Sun rising over shipyard. Shipyard sign reading Samsung. Engineers on bikes and scooters. Willie on a bicycle. Engineers welding bottom of hull, which has big round holes in it. Willie and Arto inspecting keel blocks.
[Narration]
At sunrise on Monday, the Samsung shipyard springs back to life. Thousands return to work where the two sections are now standing tall. Months of planning has come down to this. It’s time to inspect the hull. The dry-dock is already buzzing with activity. Willie and Arto get straight to it checking for any signs of damage.
[Willie Gray]
We’re just making sure that there wasn’t any heavy touchpoints during launching or keel touchdown. It all looks perfectly okay.
[Video footage]
Willie inspecting welded areas on hull with flashlight. Willie using measuring tape to measure the gap. Willie speaking to camera.
[Narration]
Now to the critical point where the hull comes together.
[Willie Gray]
If you look through the gap here, you can see all the way up to the upper deck.
[Narration]
Despite all the challenges, it’s come down to just millimeters.
[Willie Gray]
The gap is fairly uniform, about 10 millimeters, and the offset between the two section is varying between 10 and 20.
[Narration]
The two blocks match perfectly.
[Background music plays]
Upbeat electronic music.
[Video footage]
Panning shots of hull. Worker welding bottom of hull. Willie and Arto gazing up. Willie and Arto looking at camera with hull in background.
[Narration]
The sections are a world away from becoming the hull of the largest offshore floating facility ever built. It’s a huge achievement for the Prelude team, but Willie knows there’s little time for celebration.
[Willie Gray]
We’ve done well so far, but the challenges ahead are great, but not insurmountable.
[Video footage]
Worker welding hull. Worker using wrench. Hull in shipyard.
[Narration]
There’s much to be done, but the creation of the world’s first FLNG facility has just moved closer to becoming a reality.
[Graphics]
Shell logo. Text reads “© Shell International 2013.”
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