Bechtel Collaboration

ConocoPhillips and Bechtel Group Inc. have worked together to produce LNG for 36 years, beginning at a liquefaction facility at Kenai, Alaska in 1969, which has continuously produced LNG for the Japanese market.

ConocoPhillips and Bechtel formed the Global LNG Collaboration to commercialize the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade ^SM Process in 1996. Under this agreement, Bechtel is the exclusive provider of front-end engineering and design (FEED) work and is the preferred engineering, procurement and construction contractor for ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade ^SM Process projects.

Following the success of Kenai, The first license of the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade ^SM Process was to Atlantic LNG in Trinidad in 1999. Other projects that have recently been licensed include Darwin LNG in Australia and Egyptian LNG.

A key part of the Collaboration is the Product Development Center (PDC), which works to achieve overall success in the life-cycle of an LNG plant by enhancing technology and design.

The ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade ^SM Process is a second generation process developed on the same technology used in the Kenai plant. This process uses three refrigeration phases involving propane, ethane and methane to progressively cool the gas.

Upon its introduction at Atlantic LNG, the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade ^SM Process revolutionized the industry as a low-cost LNG technology. The Process offers a simple, gas plant type of design that is lower in capital and operating costs, is easy to start up and operate, requires fewer people and is very flexible. 

Inherent in the design is the two trains-in-one feature with built-in driver redundancy. A wide range of driver and compressor options is available to customize the design.  These customizations meet the design parameters and deliver high thermal efficiency.

Specific studies recently completed in the PDC are centered on compressor drivers. Designs are also being developed for trains of up to and beyond 6 million tons per year.