Leveraging expertise accumulated in the energy transport field with LNG carriers and tankers, MOL takes a proactive stance in working on offshore businesses, where we anticipate continued growth in the future.
MOL's typical offshore projects include floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) systems, which are not used for transport, but instead are anchored in place.
Those projects are based on long-term charter contracts similar to our conventional LNG transport business model. We will expand this business aggressively, drawing fully upon our decades of experience in LNG carrier projects.

In addition, we are moving into shuttle tanker projects, which transport crude oil from offshore oil production facilities including FPSOs to onshore oil refineries. We have participated in a project that owns five crude oil shuttle tankers operated off the coast of Brazil since September 2014.
And in 2016, MOL took part ownership of a subsea support vessel, which is engaged in installation, maintenance, repair, and decommissioning of subsea equipment, spanning the various phases of exploration, development, and production of deep-water oil and gas fields. In 2017, we entered the renewable energy business through involvement in an operator of self-elevating platform vessels, which install offshore wind power generation systems.

We focus on floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) that regasify LNG loaded at sea and send natural gas (regasified LNG) to facilities on shore. FSRUs are drawing attention as a way to provide the flexibility required in LNG supply contracts today.

In 2013, we decided to construct the world’s largest FSRU, which was delivered in October 2017 and is slated to begin operation at a project in Turkey by the end of the year.
Furthermore, in September 2017, MOL joined a project to construct and operate an LNG receiving terminal in Gujarat, India. MOL will operate and maintain the FSRU and floating and storage unit (FSU), which are the core facilities of the receiving terminal.

As the world’s largest operator of LNG carriers, and the only Japanese company that owns and operates FSRUs, MOL promotes the FSRU business in line with the needs of customers looking to diversify their LNG procurement.

Oil field development has shifted from onshore to offshore and from shallow water to deep water, backed by increasing demand for energy and advancement of oil development technologies. Under these circumstances, MOL has engaged in long-term charter projects involving FPSO systems off Brazil and West Africa.

To date, we have participated in five projects off Brazil and one off Ghana, and work continuously to increase the number of projects.