Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) showcases the company’s competitiveness in the Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) industry, which is focused on gas extraction and storage, while gathering attention for the deployment of its 2008-built drillship West Capella to deep-sea drilling operations off the coast of Yeongil Bay in Pohang.
According to the shipbuilding industry, on June. 10., SHI officials met with President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique on June. 3., who visited South Korea to attend the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit. President Nyusi and the officials discussed building the second FLNG for the Mamba North gas field, a natural gas field located offshore the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique, during their meeting.
An FLNG Liquefied Natural facility is a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel specifically designed for the offshore extraction, processing, liquefaction, storage, and offloading of natural gas. Compared to onshore facilities, it is thought to be easily transportable and environmentally beneficial. An FLNG unit costs between 2 trillion (about $1.45 billion) and 4 trillion won (about $2.91 billion), which is the same as 6–12 LNGCs. SHI secured five of the seven FLNG units ordered between 2012 and the beginning of this year.
Meanwhile, SHI delivered Africa’s first FLNG to Mozambique, which was commissioned by Italian energy company ENI in 2017. The contract value was 2.95 trillion won (about $2.14 billion).
Named “Coral Sul,” the FLNG weighs 210,000 tons and has dimensions of 432 meters in length and 66 meters in width. This is equivalent in size to four soccer fields arranged in a row. Coral Sul passed the final performance test and is expected to generate 3.4 million tons of LNG annually in the gas field off the coast of Mozambique.
SHI also delivered Shell’s Prelude FLNG in 2017 and Petronas’ FLNG DUA 1 and 2 in 2020, solidifying its leading position in the FLNG industry.
In October 2020, SHI entered into agreements for front-end engineering design (FEED) for an FLNG with Delfin and conducted the newbuilding slot reservation for the FLNG in March of the same year. Furthermore, the shipbuilding tycoon started constructing Petronas’ third FLNG in April this year. The deal worth 2 trillion won (about $1.45 billion) was inked in December 2022. In addition to this, the company was then awarded an FEED order for the FLNG for Canada’s first FLNG project from Cedar LNG.
“As LNG demand rises, so does the demand for offshore plants, including FLNG,” an industry player said. SHI aims to secure orders for more than two FLNG units each year.
