South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has secured an order for two new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
DSME will build the 174,000-cbm LNG carriers for an unidentified owner in Oceania and deliver them by July 2026.
The contract is worth about 595.9 billion won ($429 million) or some $214.5 million per vessel, according to the shipbuilder.
Shipbuilding sources told LNG Prime on Thursday that this deal is most likely related to the massive shipbuilding program by state-run QatarEnergy.
The sources said that Japan’s Meiji Shipping and Malaysia’s MISC were expected to sign contracts for two LNG carriers, each, while Greece-based TMS Cardiff Gas was expected to book four LNG carriers under the Qatar program at DSME.
Prior to this order, DSME revealed a contract for seven new LNG carriers tied to the Qatari program.
A Korean consortium consisting of H-Line Shipping, Pan Ocean, and SK Shipping ordered these vessels.
This consortium, or K3, also ordered the four LNG carriers at DSME in June.
With this new order for two LNG carriers, DSME secured contracts worth about $8.6 billion for 38 ships this year, including six LNG-powered containerships and 30 LNG tankers.
DSME has now achieved about 97 percent of its annual target of $8.9 billion.
Last year, the yard won about $10.8 billion in orders, exceeding its target of $7.7 billion.