South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries is reportedly in the pole position to secure a US$2.5 billion deal to build an FLNG unit for Eni of Italy.
Samsung Heavy will lead a consortium comprising LNG engineers Technip of France and Japan’s JGC in a project with a total value of $5.4 billion, Yonhap reports.
The report quotes an unnamed source as saying that Samsung Heavy Industries has “virtually” won the contract that will be signed in October.
The report did not reveal for what project the FLNG would be used, however, it is known that Eni is currently developing the Coral FLNG project in Mozambique for which the Italian company received an approval in February this year.
LNG World News sent an email both to Eni and Samsung Heavy seeking comment on the potential order. We will update the article if we get a response.
The shipbuilder has been working on a detailed business plan with Eni since the first quarter of this year, and if concluded the deal could improve the company’s barren year in which it has not received any shipbuilding orders, according to the report.
Worth mentioning, Samsung Heavy said in April that the Hague-based LNG giant Shell cancelled a multi-billion order for three floating LNG producing units that were part of the Browse project in Australia. Earlier this year, the Browse JV partners, including Shell, decided not to move ahead with the FLNG project due to plummeting oil and gas prices.
The South Korean shipbuilding giant is also building Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility, the largest of its kind. Once completed, the giant FLNG unit will be towed to the Prelude gas field located some 475 kilometers north-east of Broome in Western Australia.
LNG World News Staff