Samsung Heavy Industries has launched the floating LNG production facility Coral Norte at its Geoje shipyard in South Gyeongsang Province, following a ceremony held on the 16th for the unit ordered by Italian state-owned energy company ENI.
Around 80 guests attended the event at Geoje, including Samsung Heavy Industries Vice Chairman Choi Sung-an, Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Estevao Pale, ENI chief operating officer Guido Brusco, and JGC president Yamada Shoji.
Coral Norte is the second ultra-large FLNG that Samsung Heavy Industries is constructing for ENI. It follows Coral Sul, delivered in 2021, which the Korean shipbuilder secured in 2017 and which is recognised as the first FLNG operating in African ultra-deepwater gas fields.
The new FLNG measures 432 m in length and 66 m in breadth, giving it an overall area comparable to four standard football pitches placed end to end. At the time of launch, the structure weighed about 123,000 tonnes, underscoring the scale of the offshore facility.
For Coral Norte, Samsung Heavy Industries and ENI signed an 869.4 billion won contract in July last year covering early-stage work ahead of the main construction phase. The project is proceeding according to schedule, with completion targeted for 2028.
The company’s FLNG orderbook remains one of the largest in the industry. Out of ten FLNG newbuild projects ordered worldwide so far, Samsung Heavy Industries has secured six. Its delivery track record includes four FLNG units, among them Shell’s Prelude FLNG, widely viewed as one of the largest FLNG facilities in service. At the Geoje yard, the builder is currently working on two additional units: Coral Norte and Petronas’ third FLNG for deployment offshore Malaysia.
In parallel, US-based Delfin Midstream has stated that a final investment decision (FID) on its FLNG project planned for the US Gulf of Mexico is drawing closer and has agreed to extend the letter of award (LOA) for the FLNG construction contract recently signed with Samsung Heavy Industries.
Vice Chairman Choi highlighted that demand for LNG is rising and that approvals for large offshore gas production facilities are increasing steadily. Taking the company’s construction capacity into account, he indicated that Samsung Heavy Industries aims to secure between one and two FLNG orders per year.
