Samsung Heavy Industries has developed and received global certification for a standard model of a deep-sea floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility named MLF-O, which is designed to operate efficiently in rough sea conditions with average wave heights over 9 meters.

The company announced on Wednesday that it secured basic design approval for the MLF-O model from classification societies DNV (Norway), Lloyd’s Register (the United Kingdom), and the American Bureau of Shipping (the United States) at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC 2025) held in Houston, Texas.

OTC is the world’s largest offshore plant exhibition, where global companies present cutting-edge marine and energy technologies. LNG, when stored in liquid form, is vulnerable to sloshing - a wave-like motion within tanks that can cause internal structural stress.

The MLF-O addresses this issue with a two-row cargo tank layout that minimizes the internal impact caused by sloshing. Its design is optimized for offshore LNG production in deep seas and turbulent waters.

This follows Samsung Heavy’s earlier development of MLF-N in 2023, a standard model for nearshore floating LNG facilities designed for areas with wave heights below 2 meters. With the addition of the MLF-O, Samsung Heavy now offers a full lineup of standardized LNG production facility models tailored to both nearshore and offshore environments.

A company official said, “The MLF standard model allows flexible cargo tank capacity ranging from 180,000 to 220,000 cubic meters by standardizing the LNG tank and hull design. It also provides faster delivery times and cost-efficiency compared to onshore LNG plants.”

Samsung Heavy plans to use its MLF-N and MLF-O models, highlighting their standardization, flexibility, and efficiency, as the basis for bidding in multiple international gas field development projects.

“The MLF-O offers a breakthrough solution that minimizes operating costs and dramatically shortens lead times. We aim to maintain a first-mover advantage in the FLNG market by continuously innovating,” Jang Hae-gi, Executive Vice President and Head of Technology Development at Samsung Heavy Industries, said.

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