Samsung Heavy Industries, one of South Korea’s largest shipbuilders, is reportedly on the verge of winning a large deal to build a floating LNG facility.
As a matter of fact, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the shipyard has ‘virtually secured’ a $2.5 billion order for the FLNG unit, reportedly placed by the Italian energy company ENI.
Citing unnamed industry sources, Yonhap wrote that the order is a part of a larger deal valued $5.4 billion, for which a consortium consisting of Korea’s Samsung, France’s Technip and Japan’s JGC is competing. The news agency said that the firm deal would be signed in October.
It’s worth noting that Samsung is not a newcomer when it comes to working on FLNG units. Quite the contrary, the shipyard is currently building the world’s largest FLNG facility – Shell’s Prelude, which is expected to start production offshore Australia in 2018.
Back to the reported Eni order. While Yonhap gave no details on where the FLNG would be deployed, everybody in the industry knows that Eni is working to develop vast gas reserves it discovered offshore Mozambique using a floating LNG unit, so this might be it.
To remind, Eni in February received the approval for the first phase of development of 5 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Coral discovery, located in the Area 4 permit, off Mozambique.
The discovery is located in water more than 2000 meters deep and approximately 80 kilometers offshore of the Palma bay in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
The giant discovery, made in May 2012 and outlined in 2013, proved the existence of a high quality field of Eocenic age with excellent productivity. It is estimated to contain 15 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, wholly located in Area 4.
The Plan of Development, the very first one to be approved in the Rovuma Basin, foresees the drilling and completion of 6 subsea wells and the construction and installation of a technologically advanced Floating LNG facility, the capacity of which will be around 3.4 MTPA.
Offshore Energy Today has contacted Eni regarding the Yonhap report, seeking confirmation and more info. We will update the article if we get a response.
Offshore Energy Today Staff