According to reports, SBM Offshore said it expects the first sale of its Liquified Natural Gas offshore production facility, called LNG FPSO, within 18 months, and also announced a development partnership with Germany's Linde AG. SBM said it now considers the LNG FPSO ready for marketing and added that it can now establish the cost and delivery time of each unit. The LNG FPSO is an offshore liquefied natural gas production facility that allows the development of stranded offshore gas fields as it produces, liquefies and stores gas. SBM said capital expenditures on each unit is $2b. To shorten the design and delivery cycle time of the LNG FPSO, SBM said it decided to form a partnership with Linde.