Shell Begins Construction on World’s Largest Floating Object

An energy crisis is looming. We’ve been told that fossil fuels will be gone within the next 50 years. The hunt for alternative sources of energy to run our cars, fuel our industries and feed our countries has begun. Whilst green energy is going from strength to strength, traditional oil companies are looking to more tried and true resources.

In light of this, Royal Dutch Shell are constructing the world’s largest man-made floating object. The vessel is being built in South Korean shipyards and is expected to be complete by 2017. When finished, it will anchor off Western Australia, where the vessel will extract the equivalent of over 110,000 barrels of natural gas a day. It will then cool the gas at -162 degrees celsius which condenses it to a sixth of its mass. Whilst the vessel itself will be stationary for a predicted 25 years, the gas will be transported via smaller ships to markets in Asia and Europe.

The ship is more of a mini island. It will be over 4 football fields long, will weight six times more than the next largest vessel and can withstand a Category 4 cyclone, the most severe of storms.

[via POPSCI]