Knutsen orders another LNG carrier at Hanwha Ocean

Hanwha Ocean said in a stock exchange filing on Friday that it will build one LNG carrier for an unidentified European owner.

The contract is worth 375.9 billion won, or approximately $250 million.

Hanwha Ocean will deliver the newbuild LNG carrier by September 2029.

The shipbuilder did not provide further information.

Sources said that Knutsen returned to Hanwha Ocean to place an order for another LNG carrier, following orders for seven LNG carriers last year and one LNG carrier earlier this month.

This puts the total to nine LNG carriers since last year.

Knutsen recently announced that it is working on new projects to further expand its fleet of 50 LNG carriers.

The group ordered seven additional modern LNG vessels, each with a capacity of 174,000 cbm, in December last year, increasing the number of LNG carriers under construction from six to thirteen.

These vessels are being built at Hyundai Heavy Industries (six units) and Hanwha Ocean
(seven units), with deliveries scheduled between 2026 and 2029.

Six vessels are set for delivery in 2026, four in 2028, and three in 2029.

Six LNG carriers

Including this order, Hanwha Ocean booked six LNG carriers worth approximately $1.5 billion year-to-date.

In January this year, Hanwha Ocean secured a contract valued at approximately $501 million to build two LNG carriers for Greece’s Alpha Gas.

This is Hanwha Ocean’s first LNG carrier order in 2026.

In March, Greece’s Maran Gas, the gas shipping unit of Angelicoussis, ordered two more LNG carriers from Hanwha Ocean for $501 million.

Last year, Hanwha Ocean secured orders for 13 LNG carriers.

As of the end of March 2026, Hanwha Ocean had 63 LNG vessels worth $15.8 billion in its orderbook.