President Park Dae-young of Samsung Heavy Industries.

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. won the project to build an LNG Floating Storage Regasification Unit (LNG-FSRU) vessel from Bergesen World (BW) Shipping Group, and three ships worth $300 million, the Samsung Group affiliate said on Dec. 13.

Its second such order from BW Shipping Group following the same kind of order in January, the company said, and the new LNG-FSRU will be delivered in 2016.

LNG-FSRU is a floating storage for LNG with the facilities for regasification at sea and delivery of the LNG directly to consumers on land and Samsung Heavy has so far landed two LNG-FSRU orders and 12 LNG tank carriers worth a total of $3 billion, 1/3 of the total 36 LNG tankers ordered around the world this year.

The company won the project to build two petrochemical carriers from a European shipping company on Dec. 10 and with the recent orders, the company’s total overseas ship orders are worth $12.6 billion or 97 percent of this year’s total target of $13 billion.

In the meantime, Samsung Heavy launched a floating LNG tank vessel at sea near Geoje Island off the southern coast on Dec. 3, an order the company got from Royal Dutch Shell. It’s the world’s first Prelude FLNG, a floating LNG refinement facility, which is able to drill LNG at sea and refine it directly on the tanker and deliver it to consumers on land.

When using an FLNG to drill for LNG at sea, the project would save some 2 trillion won as storage facilities on land are not needed, nor are undersea pipelines, which is also good for undersea ecology protection, the company said.

A pair of floating LNG vessels launched by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. at its dock in Goeje 

Island, South Gyeongsang Province, on Dec. 3.

Officials of Samsung Heavy said the company’s successful launch of the Prelude FLNG without a hitch in the schedule puts the company in a good position to get more orders for FLNG from oil majors and LNG drillers in Australia, East Africa, and Southeast Asia with some 20 FLNG projects being planned due to its advantages.

Samsung Heavy is encouraged that LNG drillers with less than 100 million tons of reserve wells would be able to make a profit if they can use the Prelude FLNG and there are some 350 such medium-sized LNG wells around the world, which would expand the FLNG market.

Samsung Heavy also set the record for launching the heaviest marine installation by launching its Prelude FLNG for Royal Dutch Shell which weighs 20 tons and is 488 meters in length, 74 meters wide, and 110 meters tall, the heaviest of any ships or marine installations so far built and launched in the world, the company said.

The shipbuilder plans to keep the FLNG docked inside its yard for the next two years and will build LNG storage tanks inside, plants on board, and facilities inside and outside the tanker.

President Park Dae-young of Samsung Heavy said, “We set another great record by completing the Prelude FLNG, the first and the heaviest in the world. We were able to do it through close cooperation with the owner through complete quality, safety, and production process control to finish the project on a successful note.”

Park noted that oil majors plan to build FLNG to drill for LNG, which will put Samsung Heavy in a great position to secure increased orders for FLNG as a leader in the market.