27 / 60
F
or any industry – LNG included – just getting off the
ground and running is a huge task. One major key to
long-term success, however, both as a company and
as an industry, is finding efficiencies.
Amazon, UPS, McDonald’s and Tesla are all great
examples of companies that worked to identify areas to
become more efficient and, as a result, more successful.
From supply chain management to assembly line
production, putting in the time, money and effort to identify
opportunities to improve, reduce waste and perform better
is the secret formula to optimal performance.
Cheniere has found efficiencies in its own assembly
line through the construction of multiple LNG production
units (trains) at two sites over the last seven years.
Recently, the company has conducted the next phase in
efficiency discovery – reducing waste and performance
enhancement – through its debottlenecking project.
Debottlenecking, an industry term for discovering and
optimising limits on production, solves many of the
technical restraints on production. However, this is only half
the story, as true production optimisation also involves
process improvements, such as management of intervals
Aaron Stephenson, Cheniere, USA,
explains
the importance of driving efficiency
through debottlenecking and optimisation.
Figure 1.
Aerial photograph of Cheniere’s
Sabine Pass liquefaction facility in March 2019.
25