The first cargo from the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, owned by Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), is expected in the first quarter of next year.

“We expect the first cargo of LNG to be available in the first quarter of 2016,” Petronas Vice President and Venture Director LNG Projects (Domestic) Abdullah Karim is quoted by Reuters as saying.

The construction of the Petronas Floating LNG 1 (PFLNG 1) facility at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in Okpo, South Korea is scheduled to be completed by March 2016.

DSME completed the installation of all (21) topside modules onboard the Petronas’ FLNG facility at the end of March.

The PFLNG1 vessel, also known as PFLNG SATU, will be moored in Malaysia’s Kanowit gas field, 180 kilometres offshore Sarawak and will produce 1.2 million tonnes of LNG per year.

Petronas has appointed Technip and DSME as a consortium to jointly develop the PFLNG1 facility with LNG capacity of 1.2 mtpa, 365-metre length, 60-metre width and 33-metre height.

The floating LNG facility is expected to change the landscape of the LNG business where the liquefaction, production, storage and offloading processes of LNG – previously only possible at onshore plants – will now be able to be carried out hundreds of kilometres away from land and closer to the offshore gas fields.