HOUSTON, Nov. 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shell was recognized with the Chairman's Innovation Award during a reception held last night at the first Total Energy USA Conference and Exposition. The Award was created by NRG Energy as part of its Select Sponsorship of Total Energy USA and as a legacy to be carried on by the Chairperson of the event at each future edition.
The Chairman's Innovation Award showcases newly developed concepts and products in a variety of areas such as advancement of technology, improved efficiency, increased marketability, cost savings, environmental impact, enhanced market position and more.
"We are very impressed by the strength, quality and quantity of the submissions we received for this inaugural award," remarked 2012 Chairman John Ragan, who personally reviewed entries with fellow Total Energy USA Executive Committee members Julie Dill of Spectra Energy and Rodney Eichler of Apache Corporation. "We are pleased to have launched the Chairman's Innovation Award so successfully and look forward to highlighting exciting innovations that will change the way we see, produce and use energy in future awards."
The panel determined that Shell's Prelude Floating LNG (FLNG) project was representative of the type of exciting innovations that will be key to meeting current and future energy demand. Innovations across the energy spectrum – like Prelude – have been at the crux of the discussions at Total Energy USA this year.
Shell's Award entry explained that "the Prelude FLNG project is a world first and another example of technological innovation that continues to differentiate Shell from its competition. It will produce natural gas from subsea fields, separate, process, store and offload Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at sea, creating an entirely new maritime concept to open up new opportunities for Shell and partners to meet growing worldwide demand for natural gas. The largest offshore floating production facility in the world, Prelude FLNG will be 74 meters (~242 feet) wide and 488 meters (1,601 feet) long, more than four soccer fields, end-to-end.
Fully equipped, with storage tanks full, it will weigh around six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier. It is designed to remain on station during severe weather conditions, including a category 5 cyclone. It will take more than 260,000 tons of steel to build. Shell is using decades of experience to work with contractors to build this innovation.
Prelude FLNG's storage tanks will store up to 220,000 m3 of LNG, 90,000 m3 of LPG, and 126,000 m3 of condensate. It could produce enough LNG to meet annual natural gas consumption of Hong Kong, or 5% of the UK's annual natural gas needs.
"The Shell Prelude FLNG demonstrates our commitment to finding innovative solutions to global energy challenges. We believe that bringing together the many, highly diverse disciplines needed to make this project a reality mirrors the purpose of the Total Energy USA conference," said Dick Williams, President, Shell WindEnergy, Inc.
Helix Power Generators was also acknowledged with an Honorable Mention for its Helix Gas Letdown Generator. The entry touted this disruptive technology as "a positive displacement device unaffected by variations in pressures and flows that is capable of directly utilizing the pressure found in natural gas, wet steam, dry steam, geothermal fluid, water, biogas, or similar type of pressure or stream, providing significant economic and performance advantages over traditional and non-traditional waste energy capture devices."
The inaugural Total Energy USA conference and exposition closes Thursday, November 29th. The 2013 Chairman's Innovation Award call for entries is anticipated in spring 2013.
ABOUT TOTAL ENERGY USA: Total Energy USA is the groundbreaking event that addresses the greatest uncertainty in the energy industry today––the cross-fertilization of energy sectors and technologies. The new conference and exposition is developed by the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB) and will be held annually in Houston beginning in 2012. To-date, sponsors of Total Energy USA include Select Sponsors NRG and Shell, Contributing Sponsor Waste Management, Sponsors Halliburton, Platts, PKF Texas and Winstead.
For more information, please visit www.TotalEnergyUSA.com.
ABOUT SHELL: Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with 93,000 employees in more than 90 countries. In the U.S., Shell operates in 50 states and employs nearly 20,000 people working to help tackle the challenges of the new energy future. Shell Oil Company is a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology and one of America's leading oil and natural gas producers, gasoline and natural gas marketers and petrochemical manufacturers.
ABOUT HELIX POWER GENERATORS: Helix Power Generators, Inc., promotes, sells and services the device known as the Gas Letdown GeneratorTM. The Gas Letdown GeneratorTM is an efficient power generating system which converts wasted gas or steam letdown pressure from pipelines or anywhere a pressure reduction takes place, into affordable, clean electrical power that businesses can use for its own power needs or sell as excess power. Thus, the Gas Letdown GeneratorTM turns wasted energy From Pressure to Profit.
For more information, please visit http://www.helixpg.com/
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