Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) has awarded JGC Holdings Corp. and Samsung Heavy Industries an engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning (EPCC) contract for a nearshore FLNG project.

JGC reported the contract award on Jan. 6. In late 2021, JGC announced the company and Samsung had won a FEED contract for a 2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) facility.

When Petronas announced the FEED in 2021 for the nearshore Sabah project, the operator said the plant would increase its LNG production from floating facilities to 4.7 mtpa. 

Currently, Petronas operates two floating LNG facilities, the PFLNG SATU and PFLNG DUA, at the Kebabangan and Rotan offshore gas fields, respectively.

“The development of Sabah’s first nearshore LNG plant reflects our technological expertise where we continue to innovate modern solutions to monetize gas resources in an optimized and environmental-friendly manner,” Adnan Zainal Abidin, Petronas executive vice president and CEO of gas and new energy, said in 2021. 

The Sabah nearshore FLNG facility will have a minimum production capacity of 2 mtpa of LNG and is scheduled for completion in 2027. 

Under the contract, JGC will handle the engineering, procurement and commissioning work for the topsides and the associated onshore facilities. It will also manage the overall project. Samsung will be responsible for the FLNG hull engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work and the modular fabrication of the topsides.

JGC President and COO Tadashi Ishizuka credited JGC’s LNG plant track record and Samsung’s shipbuilding capabilities for winning the order, according to a press release.

“JGC's strong leadership backed by excellent project management know-how has been demonstrated during the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) stage," Ishizuka said.

JGC has executed EPC projects for Petronas for all nine trains of the LNG plants at the Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, which has an annual production capacity of approximately 29 mtpa. In 2021, JGC completed Petronas’ second FLNG facility, PFLNG DUA, the world's first deep-water FLNG facility currently in production.