French LNG containment giant GTT has secured a new order for four 174,000-cbm liquefied natural gas carriers.
GTT said in a statement on Thursday that it has received the order in the second quarter of this year from an Asian shipyard and the vessels will be built for an Asian shipowner.
The Paris-based firm will design the tanks of these four vessels, and the tanks will be fitted with a membrane containment system from GTT’s NO96 series developed.
GTT said deliveries of the vessels are scheduled between the first and third quarters of 2027.
The company did not provide any further information regarding the deal.
QatarEnergy shipbuilding program
This order could be related to the four LNG carrier Hanwha Ocean, previously known as DSME, won as part of the massive QatarEnergy shipbuilding program.
Hanwha Ocean announced on April 2 the order worth about $920 million saying it will deliver the vessels to an Asian shipowner by August 2027.
Prior to that, QatarEnergy announced on March 31 that it has signed time charter agreements for 19 LNG carriers as part of the second phase of the shipbuilding program, saying that four of these 174,000 cbm vessels will be built by Hanwha Ocean.
The four carriers will be owned by a joint venture of Japan’s K Line and South Korea’s Hyundai Glovis.
Including 16 QC-Max LNG carriers, QatarEnergy’s massive shipbuilding program includes the construction of 122 vessels.
GTT received orders for 73 LNG carriers and one FLNG in 2023, following record 162 orders for LNG carriers in 2022 and 68 orders in 2021.
The company’s CEO and chairman Philippe Berterottière said in February the market requires up to 95 additional LNG carriers to ship contracted volumes of LNG from plants under construction.
Berterottière said during GTT’s 2023 results presentation that these estimates do not include the announcement by QatarEnergy regarding a third LNG expansion of the giant North Field with a capacity of 16 mtpa.
