Title: Arms of Innovation
Duration: 6:44 minutes
Description:
Testing of newly designed marine loading arm for Shell LNG production
Arms of Innovation Transcript
[Background music plays]
Energetic music with industrial noises.
[Narration]
A chunk of world first technology, a tanker of liquid nitrogen, and a team of nervous engineers.
[Video footage]
Machinery in motion, close up.
Machinery in motion, long shot.
Tanker of liquid nitrogen.
Group of hard-hatted workers in discussion.
[Narration]
With a prestigious project, and years of work behind them, the test they’re about to do needs to
succeed.
[Video footage]
Engineers gather around waiting for a machinery test.
Worker points upward.
Close up of machinery in motion with steam being emitted.
Longer shot of machinery with platform being lowered.
Shot of machine being tested and part of it being pulled away from body of machinery.
Shower of sparks.
Workers at work on shipyard factory floor.
[Background music plays]
Bright, uplifting music.
[Narration]
It’s revolutionary, pushing the boundaries of innovation.
[Video footage]
1
Interior of facory. Workers crossing an open interior. Various shots of factory activity. Large piece of
machinery being moved across factory floor. Close up of worker working on large pipe. Crane lifting
some heavy machinery. Exterior shot of shipyard showing cranes in foreground. Interior shot shows
water flowing along channels. The water level rises. Night shot morphs into daytime scene
[Narration]
Destined for fields previously thought too challenging, a gas plant is being shrunk to a quarter size, and
carefully squeezed onto a floating hull.
[Animated sequence]
Zoom in on satellite photograph of section of Western Australian coast showing Broome and the
location of Prelude gas field.
[Video footage]
Overhead of gas plant
Two workers in breathing apparatus.
Rapid motion works in outdoor shipyard. Two men in protective headgear.
Inside the Prelude project vessel looking up at the sky.
A worker in protective headgear indicates and points at something.
Prelude, Freemantle is
Worker with welding equipment.
[Narration]
At half a kilometre long, Prelude is one of the largest structures that man has ever sent to sea.
[Video footage]
The Prelude project vessel leaves the slip and is led onto the sea, fast motion. Prelude, Freemantle is
written on back.
[Text displays]
Prelude
Arms of Innovation
[Video footage]
Long shot, long pan across Korean shipyard.
[Text displays]
Samsung Heavy Industries
Geoje Island, South Korea
[Background music plays]
Bright, uplifting music.
2
[Narration]
Prelude is designed to cool gas to a chilling minus 162 degrees Celsius. This shrinks it, and turns it into
liquefied natural gas, or LNG.
[Video footage]
Prelude manoeuvred into position in fast motion
Korean shipyard workers at work
[Narration]
The challenge is in transferring this volatile liquid from Prelude onto a carrier while both bob up and
down on the surface of the ocean.
[Animated sequence]
Simulation of Prelude and carrier moving into position
[Video footage]
Scale model of Prelude and carrier in a lab tank
Interview with Cris Moreno
[Title]
Project Engineering Lead
[Cris Moreno]
The carrier and the facility are actually moored together, and during this offloading process, they will
be moving, and probably moving in different directions. Ideally, we would actually offload it around
every five or six days, and we’ve had to make sure that we can do this safely.
[Background music plays]
Low volume apprehensive music.
[Video footage]
Scale model of Prelude and carrier in a lab tank.
Stock footage of airline refuelling in mid-air.
[Narration]
Technology for transferring fuel between planes has been in use since World War Two, but technology
that can speedily transfer vast quantities of liquid gas between vessels at sea has had to be perfected.
[Video footage]
Stock footage of airline refuelling in mid-air
[Narration]
That next level of innovation is being created in France.
[Background music plays]
Pastoral orchestral music
3
[Video footage]
Establishment shots of Sens, France
[Text display]
FMC Technologies
Sens, France
[Narration]
For the Prelude project to be viable, this marine loading arm has to work. Cris Marino is here to test it
for the first time.
[Video footage]
French workers at work outdoors on machinery.
Side view of Cris driving through the countryside. Shot of marine loading arm when Cris arrives at
destination.
[Cris Moreno]
There it is, that’s the first marine loading arm. That is just incredible. That is absolutely – that’s
sublime. That’s amazing.
[Video footage]
Long shot of marine loading arm. Cris looking up at marine loading arm.
Cris in car talking
[Narration]
Cris’s excitement is understandable, when you consider it’s taken 50,000 man hours to get to this
stage.
[Video footage]
French workers wearing protective clothing and headgear at work outdoors on machinery.
[Cris Moreno]
The reason why I almost love these loading arms is they were first of a kind.
[Video footage]
Group of hard-hatted workers walking in a group and viewing the motion of machinery. Men point at
the loading arm.
[Cris Moreno]
You can imagine grabbing something that no one has ever played with. And then that gives you a
sense of enjoyment, fulfillment, and it’s also scary at the same time. You know, you don’t really want
to take something brand new and break it.
[Video footage]
Long shot of loading arm.
4
[Narration]
This enormous arm should be able to swivel, rotate, and follow the motion of an LNG carrier for the 15
hours it’ll take to offload.
[Video footage]
Hard-hatted workers viewing the motion of machinery. Various close-ups of parts of the loading arm.
[Cris Moreno]
It’s a brand new arm, so it’s important that we see that the system works spot on, first time.
[Background music plays]
Slow ballet-like music
[Video footage]
Machinery in motion. Men standing in group testing the equipment and watching.
[Narration]
A dynamic test bench mimics the movement of the carrier. The arm should automatically pull itself
into place. The team watches anxiously.
[Video footage]
Machinery in motion. The group of workers in protective clothing look on as the machinery is tested.
[Narration]
It’s a textbook connection.
[Cris Moreno]
It’s just incredible, huh? The dynamics.
[Background music plays]
Apprehensive music
[Video footage]
Machinery in motion. Cris talks to a fellow worker.
[Narration]
But then, something unexpected occurs.
[Loud bang]
[Video footage]
Machinery stops.
[Cris Moreno]
That wasn’t meant to happen.
[Video footage]
5
Hard-hatted workers looking up at the machinery
[Narration]
The loading arm has retracted too far, and collided with itself. The engineers check for damage.
[Video footage]
The loading arm is lowered. Engineers check for damage
[Cris Moreno]
The good news is that none of the equipment was damaged during the test.
[Video footage]
Cris walks toward the camera. Workers in protective clothing work on the loading arm.
[Narration]
Despite the hiccup, the test is a resounding success, and with a plan in place to make sure it can’t
happen again, they move on to the ultimate test.
[Background music plays]
Bright, heroic music
[Video footage]
French workers in protective clothing at work outdoors on machinery
[Narration]
Prelude’s liquefied natural gas will be stored in colossal tanks deep inside the hull at minus 162 degrees
Celsius.
[Video footage]
Steam rises from pipes filled with liquid nitrogen. Long shot looking up at the hull.
View of Prelude’s gas tanks under construction. Two workers discussing something and looking up.
[Narration]
The team in France needs to prove the arm can perform in the extreme cold.
[Video footage]
Steam rises from pipes filled with liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen fed from tanker into the machinery
[Cris Moreno]
It is effectively the first time where we’re running the Prelude LNG loading arm at cryogenic conditions.
Yes, it is exciting.
[Video footage]
Cris smiles.
6
[Narration]
They fill the arm with liquid nitrogen. It’s cold, but not flammable, like liquefied natural gas.
[Video footage]
Steam rises from pipes filled with liquid nitrogen.
Liquid nitrogen fed from tanker into the machinery.
[Cris Moreno]
Once we achieve the low temperatures that we need, we will complete what we refer to as an
emergency disconnection. And that’s critical for ensuring the facility remains safe in case of
emergency.
[Video footage]
Various close-up shots of parts of the loading arm.
[Narration]
The test bench will simulate extreme sea conditions. Once the movement exceeds safe limits, valves
inside the arm should close, allowing it to break away from the carrier.
[Video footage]
Hard-hatted workers looking up at the machinery.
Steam rises from pipes filled with liquid nitrogen.
[Narration]
In this simulated emergency, only the liquid between the two valves should escape.
[Video footage]
Machinery in motion.
[Cris Moreno]
If the valves didn’t function, we would see continuous liquid nitrogen being spilt into the ground. So
there is a very, very strong requirement here to demonstrate that we do not have that occurrence.
[Video footage]
Cris talking in front of machinery.
Machinery in motion.
Machinery separates and arm withdraws.
Watching engineers give thumbs up.
[Cris Moreno]
7
Good result. Very happy.
[Video footage]
Cris laughing and walking off camera.
[Video footage]
Shots of different parts of machinery.
[Background music plays]
Diligent working music
[Narration]
The marine loading arm has functioned perfectly. It will now be dismantled and shipped to Korea.
Once six more are built and tested, Prelude will be able to offload liquid cargo at sea.
[Animated sequence]
Shipyard construction in motion
Rotating view around Prelude on the ocean
[Text displays]
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© Shell International 2014
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