Wedoany.com Report on Mar 16th, In early December 2025, a touch of "Made in China" arrived in the waters near the Republic of the Congo—the "NGUYA FLNG," China's first 180,000 cubic meter-class aluminum storage tank FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas unit), built by Wison Clean Energy, successfully arrived and officially commenced operations. Over 70% of the aluminum alloy storage tank materials for this FLNG were sourced from Guangxi Nanshan Aluminum Fabrication Co., Ltd., marking the achievement of domestic substitution for high-end marine storage tank manufacturing materials.
FLNG is primarily used for offshore natural gas extraction, capable of directly liquefying and storing natural gas at sea. For a long time, the manufacturing of core components for high-end offshore equipment like FLNG heavily relied on steel. However, with the shipping industry's increasing demand for greener, more environmentally friendly, and lightweight equipment, aluminum, with its outstanding advantages such as shorter production cycles, superior weight reduction effects, and recyclability, is gradually becoming the upgrade direction in FLNG manufacturing.
As the storage unit of an FLNG, the LNG storage tank (natural gas storage tank) is a key facility ensuring stable offshore natural gas storage and transportation safety. The critical material used for manufacturing marine LNG storage tanks—5083-O temper aluminum alloy plates and profiles—was previously monopolized by a few countries, becoming a bottleneck constraining the upgrade of China's LNG storage tank manufacturing industry. Therefore, achieving independent mass production of high-end marine aluminum plates became an urgent need for China's energy equipment manufacturing sector.
"As one of China's first enterprises to invest in R&D for aluminum LNG ship supporting materials, Nanshan Aluminum Fabrication, as early as 2015, collaborated with major shipyards and other industry leaders to form a dedicated R&D team and embark on the path of technological breakthroughs," explained Zhao Qizhong, Head of the Hot Rolling Technology Station at Nanshan Aluminum Fabrication Research Institute and Director of the Ship Materials Research Institute. "Through repeated debugging and refinement, we broke through a series of core technologies, including ensuring high cleanliness metallurgical quality, low-cycle fatigue performance, crack growth rate, and ultra-low temperature mechanical properties of high-magnesium aluminum alloys. We successfully developed the high-end 5083-O aluminum alloy plates and profiles required for large marine LNG storage tanks, filling the material gap in China's related fields."
In 2022, Nanshan Aluminum Fabrication passed stringent qualification tests and became a supplier for China's offshore energy equipment giant, Wison Clean Energy. Its 5083-O aluminum alloy plates and profiles were first applied in China's largest self-developed and built FLNG in terms of tonnage and gas storage capacity—the "NGUYA FLNG." On September 14, 2025, the NGUYA FLNG, equipped with four 45,000 cubic meter aluminum alloy LNG storage tanks, set sail from Lüsigang in Qidong, heading towards the waters near the Republic of the Congo.
"The aluminum alloy plates and profiles produced by Nanshan Aluminum Fabrication have laid a solid technical and material foundation for the industrial preparation and engineering application of domestically produced large marine LNG storage tanks, providing crucial assurance for the successful delivery of China's first 180,000 cubic meter-class aluminum storage tank FLNG," commented Zeng Xiaogang, Manager of the Supplier Management Department at the Procurement Center of Wison Clean Energy.
