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Rethinking the rulebook / Unlocking LNG production performance

APLNG team safely boosts production by redefining operational limits
APLNG facility

APLNG facility on Curtis Island

In the world of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, where safety is paramount, it is natural to assume that long-standing operating limits are the most effective simply because they have always worked.

Sometimes, the pathway to unlocking production performance gains begins with a single, curious question: What if the accepted limits aren’t fixed and greater performance is possible?

At the Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) facility on Curtis Island, this question opened the door to innovation.  

Click here to learn more about the Optimized Cascade® Process.

By rethinking established operational limits, a team of process engineers and operators found a way to increase LNG production and improve energy efficiency, without any physical modifications, boosting each LNG train’s output.

Central to this success was rethinking a critical operating limit — the LNG condensing temperature, known as the subcool margin, in the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade® Process.

APLNG facility
APLNG facility

Understanding subcooling: Making LNG even colder

To turn natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG), it must be cooled to extremely low temperatures, below –161°C. But it’s not just about hitting that number. Engineers also apply a cooling buffer, known as the “subcool margin,” to the operating limit. This means cooling the liquid beyond what is required to ensure process stability and safety. At home, this resembles setting your freezer a bit colder to keep ice cream solid even when the door opens.

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From simulation to implementation

With their sights set on challenging the subcool margin, the APLNG facility team conducted an investigation involving complex calculations and simulations.

Was more production performance being left on the table?

The simulation models said yes, considering the actual operating conditions, and demonstrated that the proposed reduction of the cooling buffer could work in the facility’s infrastructure.

With promising results in hand, the team moved from theory to practice.

The Operator Training Simulator at the APLNG facility is a virtual training tool that helps facility operators learn to manage the LNG facility without any risk to real operations.

Real-world trials began, with operations, engineering and risk-management experts working together to fine-tune pressure and temperature settings in the facility’s process.

They rigorously reviewed every step to ensure the change could be implemented safely, with additional controls in place and without any negative impact on LNG production.

By leveraging digital simulation tools, validating assumptions and ideas, and empowering a collaborative workforce, APLNG is not just producing more LNG, it’s doing it smarter, safer and more sustainably — a result made possible by the deep technical expertise ConocoPhillips has cultivated over six decades in LNG process design and optimization.

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