Samsung Heavy Industries Books French Player for Work on Canada’s $4 Billion FLNG Project

France’s technological containment specialist Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) has picked up a new order from South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) shipyard, which will enable it to provide the tank design of a new floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit, which will be deployed in the traditional territory of the Haisla Nation, on Canada’s West Coast.

This FLNG facility for the Cedar LNG project is being designed and constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries and Black & Veatch, which act as the engineering, procurement, and construction contractors.

The South Korean firm has now selected GTT for the FLNG’s tank design on behalf of the ship-owner Cedar LNG, a partnership between the Haisla Nation and Canadian energy infrastructure player Pembina Pipeline Corporation.

This comes only weeks after the final investment decision (FID), which was expected by the middle of 2024, was made at the end of June, enabling a floating LNG, said to be the world’s first indigenous majority-owned such unit designed to run on hydropower, to start the process required to become a reality.

GTT will help to bring this unit to life by designing the tanks of the FLNG, which will have a total capacity of 180,000 m3 and incorporate the Mark III Flex membrane containment system developed by the French firm. With a nameplate capacity of 3.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), the FLNG is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2028.

Multiple design decisions were made to minimize the project’s environmental footprint, including the one to power the facility with renewable electricity from BC Hydro, and the choice of site location allows it to leverage existing LNG infrastructure, including the Coastal GasLink pipeline, a deepwater port, roads, and other infrastructure.

The long-term transportation agreement with Coastal GasLink Pipeline Limited Partnership enables the Cedar LNG facility to receive 400 million cubic feet per day of Canadian natural gas via the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The project secured 20-year take-or-pay liquefaction tolling services agreements with ARC Resources and Pembina for 1.5 mtpa each.

GTT’s job on the Cedar FLNG closely follows the two deals for tank designs related to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier and a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). The French player also recently secured the tank-design orders for ten very large LNG carriers and 15 new LNG carriers.