Two vessels exceeding 35.5 billion! The shipbuilding giant remains the world’s leading FLNG yard.

Within less than a week, South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries has once again secured an order for a high-end floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessel, further solidifying its position as the world’s leading FLNG shipyard while accelerating progress toward its full-year order‑booking target.

On June 8, Samsung Heavy Industries announced that it had officially signed an FLNG construction contract with a shipowner in Africa, valued at KRW 365.36 billion (approximately USD 2.38 billion or RMB 16.153 billion). According to reports, this contract is for the Coral Norte FLNG, the second FLNG project undertaken by Italy’s ENI Group in Mozambique following the Coral Sul project.

This marks the second FLNG order Samsung Heavy Industries has secured within just one week, following its announcement on June 2 of a contract to build the first vessel for the Delfin LNG project in Louisiana, USA, valued at USD 2.86 billion (approximately RMB 19.38 billion).

Notably, the FLNG project that has now been finalized is the same one for which Samsung Heavy Industries announced on July 7 last year that it had secured an early‑stage operations contract from a shipowner in Africa. The value of that preliminary contract amounts to KRW 869.4 billion (approximately USD 635 million or RMB 4.55 billion).

As early as the beginning of last year, Samsung Heavy Industries had already commenced production design for this FLNG vessel and began actual construction on February 18 of last year. On January 16 this year, the hull of the Coral Norte FLNG was launched at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje Shipyard. Currently, the topside modules are under construction; once module installation and commissioning are completed, delivery is scheduled for 2028.

The basic design of the Coral Norte FLNG is identical to that of the Coral Sul FLNG, which Samsung Heavy Industries previously built and delivered. According to reports, Samsung Heavy Industries commissioned the Coral Sul FLNG in 2021; it was the world’s first FLNG deployed in deep water, operating at a water depth of approximately 2,000 meters. The vessel measures 432 meters in length, 66 meters in breadth, and weighs about 140,000 tons. It has an annual LNG production capacity of 3.4 million tons, making it the second-largest FLNG in the world by scale—trailing only the Prelude FLNG, also built by Samsung Heavy Industries for Shell.

Samsung Heavy Industries stated that, compared with onshore LNG plants, offshore‑deployed FLNG facilities can mitigate political and social risks and ensure more stable project operations. Against the backdrop of growing uncertainty in the global energy supply chain, FLNG is increasingly emerging as a key alternative.

Samsung Heavy Industries emphasized that this project leverages the company’s accumulated technical and engineering expertise to optimize design and construction processes, thereby further enhancing the standardization of FLNG vessels.

A Samsung Heavy Industries spokesperson stated, “The significance of this FLNG project lies in the first-ever full‑process standardization, from design through to trial operations. The company will leverage its FLNG standardization expertise as a core strategic asset, thereby sustaining its leading competitive edge in the FLNG sector.”

FLNG, known as an “offshore LNG plant,” is a mobile, integrated facility that produces, processes, stores, and loads LNG while floating at sea. As a production unit spanning from drilling to liquefaction, it eliminates the need for onshore liquefaction and storage infrastructure or subsea pipelines, thereby helping to protect marine ecosystems. Driven by factors such as reduced unit costs, standardized design, and growing demand for rapidly deployable LNG supplies, the global FLNG market has been expanding rapidly in recent years.

FLNG construction entails extremely high technical barriers and ranks among the most complex, capital-intensive, and value‑added products in the offshore engineering sector, often hailed as the “new jewel in the crown” of the shipbuilding and offshore industries. The profit margins for building FLNG vessels typically reach double digits.

According to reports, Samsung Heavy Industries has long held around 50% of the global FLNG market, making it the leading player with unparalleled competitiveness in the next-generation FLNG segment. It is widely regarded as “the world’s strongest FLNG provider” and maintains a solid competitive edge in the offshore equipment sector, with FLNG at its core.

According to Clarkson’s data, there are currently seven FLNGs under construction worldwide: four are being built by Samsung Heavy Industries, one by Wison Energy, and two by Dubai Drydocks World. Among the eight FLNGs in operation, aside from two that were converted from LNG carriers, Samsung Heavy Industries has constructed three of the remaining six newly built FLNGs, while Wison Energy has built two and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (now Hanwha Ocean) has built one.

Notably, Samsung Heavy Industries is currently building some of the world’s largest FLNG vessels. The Prelude FLNG can produce 3.6 million tonnes of LNG, 1.3 million tonnes of condensate, and 400,000 tonnes of LPG annually, while the Coral Sul and Coral Norte FLNGs each have an annual capacity of 3.4 million tonnes. Additionally, last week Samsung Heavy Industries secured the contract for the first FLNG unit under the U.S.-based Delfin LNG project, with an annual production capacity exceeding 4 million tonnes.

In addition to the Coral Norte FLNG and the Delfin FLNG, Samsung Heavy Industries currently has two other FLNGs under construction: Malaysia’s national oil company’s third FLNG, the “PFLNG TIGA,” which was launched in February last year and is valued at USD 1.538 billion (approximately RMB 10.422 billion); and an FLNG contract for Canada’s Cedar LNG project, awarded in 2023, with a value of roughly USD 1.5 billion (approximately RMB 10.164 billion).

Including the FLNG vessel officially signed this time, Samsung Heavy Industries has secured a total of 30 orders so far this year, with a combined contract value of USD 9.6 billion—69% of its annual order‑booking target of USD 13.9 billion and 22% higher than last year’s full‑year order intake of USD 7.9 billion. In the commercial shipbuilding segment, the company has booked 28 vessels worth USD 5.2 billion, comprising 13 large LNG carriers, 2 very large ethane carriers (VLECs), 4 very large gas carriers (VLGCs), 2 container ships, 6 crude oil tankers, 1 LNG‑FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit), and 1 FLNG, achieving 91% of its annual order‑booking goal of USD 5.7 billion. Meanwhile, in the offshore business, it has secured two FLNG projects totaling USD 4.4 billion, fulfilling 54% of its annual target of USD 8.2 billion.

The Korean industry indicates that Samsung Heavy Industries is expected to see a continued rise in high-value-added offshore engineering orders this year. In addition to previously secured projects for Italy’s ENI Group and U.S.-based Delfin Midstream, energy companies such as Canada’s Western LNG and Norway’s Golar LNG are also in negotiations with Samsung Heavy Industries for FLNG construction contracts.