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Hudong-Zhonghua announced in a statement on Monday that the shipbuilding deal was signed on December 16.
The Chinese shipbuilder will build three 174,000-cbm LNG carriers for BGT, marking the first collaboration between China and Africa in the field of LNG carrier construction.
LNG Prime was the first to report earlier this year that yards in South Korea and China were competing to win an order to build LNG carriers for LNG producer Nigeria LNG.
Last month, this publication reported, citing shipbuilding sources, that BGT selected Hudong-Zhonghua to build three LNG carriers, with an option for three additional vessels.
Hudong-Zhonghua did not mention the option or any additional details regarding the order, such as the delivery and the price.
The price for each vessel is estimated at $230-$240 million, and delivery is scheduled for 2029.
According to Hudong-Zhonghua, the LNG carriers under this contract are the fifth-generation Changheng series vessels independently developed and designed by the shipbuilder.
The vessels in these series feature GTT’s NO96 Super+ containment tech and WinGD X-DF 2.0 engines.
NLNG
The new move is part of NLNG’s fleet renewal initiative, which aims to diversify and reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s shipping portfolio.
NLNG operates a fleet of vessels under long-term time charters, dedicated to transporting LNG from its Bonny plant.
Nigerian state-owned NNPC has a 49 percent stake in NLNG, UK-based Shell holds 25.6 percent, France’s TotalEnergies has 15 percent, and Italy’s Eni owns 10.4 percent.
The Bonny Island liquefaction plant currently has six trains and a capacity of 22 mtpa, but NLNG is also adding the seventh production unit.
The NLNG Train 7 project consists of the construction of one complete LNG train and one additional liquefaction unit.
Following completion, the project will add around 8 mtpa of capacity to the Bonny Island facility for a total of about 30 mtpa.
