Chinese shipyard Wison New Energies is backing out of all existing and future Russian project business just as it inks a contract to build a floating LNG production unit from Malaysia’s Genting.
Wison said: “After careful and thorough evaluation, Wison New Energies’ board of directors has decided to discontinue all ongoing Russian projects and will immediately and indefinitely stop taking any new Russian business.”
The company said: “We appreciate the good relations we have built with our Russian partners in the past and value the work we have done together.
“However, in view of the strategic future of the company, we have to make this difficult decision.”
The shipbuilding group also announced it is selling its interest in Zhoushan Wison Offshore & Marine.
The Zhoushan facility has been responsible for the construction of modules for the liquefaction trains for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, which is being developed by Russian energy giant Novatek.
The fabrication contract was awarded to what was then Wison Offshore & Marine by France’s TechnipFMC.
Separately, Wison New Energies said it had signed an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract with PT Layar Nusantara Gas and Genting Oil & Gas — both subsidiaries of Malaysia’s Genting — to build an FLNG unit of 1.2m tonnes per annum.
The floater is to be deployed in West Papua, Indonesia, and will be built to Wison’s standardised design, the company said.
Wison said steel-cutting started on 7 June 2024 and the FLNG unit is expected to achieve its “first drop of LNG” in the third quarter of 2026.
The EPCIC contract follows the signing of a limited notice to proceed agreement and to purchase long-lead items, which was inked on 8 September 2023.
Wison chairman Liu Hongjun said: “The Genting Group’s FLNG facility is not only the first FLNG facility in Indonesia but also another milestone FLNG project for WNE as this will be the third FLNG facility built by us.”
