Team Korea, a joint effort by corporations, the government, and public institutions, won a $2.8 billion (about 4 trillion won) contract on the 1st (local time) to build the first FLNG offshore plant in Louisiana, the United States. FLNG is a floating offshore plant equipped with natural gas liquefaction facilities.
According to the government on the 4th, Team Korea—which includes three ministries, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; two public institutions, Korea Overseas Infrastructure & Urban Development Corporation (KIND) and the Maritime Promotion Corporation; and Samsung Heavy Industries—won the contract.
The project will produce about 4.4 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually in waters about 74 kilometers off the coast of Louisiana. The total project cost is $4.8 billion (about 7 trillion won), of which Samsung Heavy Industries won $2.8 billion.
For this project, KIND, the Green Fund, and the Maritime Promotion Corporation invested in BlackRock Fund, the world's largest global asset management firm leading the project, and participated as financial investors to support financial structuring, thereby backing our corporations' EPC order. The investment sizes are $70 million (about 100 billion won) for KIND, $30 million (about 45 billion won) for the Green Fund, and $50 million (about 75 billion won) for the Maritime Promotion Corporation.
Samsung Heavy Industries plans to build the FLNG at a domestic shipyard, install it on site, and handle liquefaction, storage, and offloading of natural gas produced from the gas field. In particular, this project will apply eco-friendly design technologies such as selective catalytic reduction, which reduces emissions by converting nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases after fuel combustion into nitrogen and water via a catalyst, and a waste heat recovery boiler, which maximizes energy reuse by recovering discarded waste heat to produce steam and electricity.
This project is meaningful in that corporations, ministries, and public institutions worked organically to win a major infrastructure contract. It also appears likely to be an opportunity to expand the foundation for entering the U.S. energy infrastructure market.
The government plans to use this infrastructure project as an opportunity to stabilize supply chains. With supply chain uncertainty growing due to the Hormuz blockade, it will also actively push to diversify import sources and strengthen transport networks by securing overseas infrastructure.
A government official said, "Government ministries and public institutions will become partners of 'our corporations advancing overseas based on technological prowess' and run as one team, and we hope to actively identify future cooperative projects based on the partnership established with the global developer through these negotiations."