China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC) has officially started building the first LNG carrier for a joint venture consisting of units of Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation and Sinopec.
According to a statement by DSIC, the shipbuilder held a steel-cutting ceremony on Monday for the LNG carrier with a working name G175K-9.
DSIC said the LNG carrier will be 299.7 meters long and 46 meters wide, with a design draft of 11.5 meters and a design service speed of 19.5 knots.
The vessel’s tanks will feature GTT’s Mark III Flex tech.
This is the first of three LNG carriers DSIC will build for China Energy Shipping, the Hong Kong-based JV in which Sinopec’s unit Kantons Investment holds a 49 percent stake and Shanghai Cosco Shipping LNG holds a 51 percent share.
In August 2023, the JV and DSIC entered into the shipbuilding contracts for these vessels.
The deals are worth about $700 million or some $233.3 million per vessel.
The delivery of the vessels is expected to take place on or before March 31, 2027, June 30, 2027, and April 30, 2028, respectively.
Following delivery, the vessels will serve Sinopec under long-term charter deals to ship US LNG volumes Sinopec contracted from Venture Global LNG in November 2021, Sinopec previously said.
Under the 20-year sales and purchase agreements, Venture Global will supply a total of 4 million tonnes per annum of LNG from its Plaquemines LNG export facility in Louisiana to Sinopec.