Russia’s shipping firm Sovcomflot will charter two additional 174,000-cbm LNG carriers to French energy giant TotalEnergies for a period of up to seven years.
Sovcomflot said on Thursday that TotalEnergies has decided to exercise its option for the two carriers as part of a contract the duo revealed in January this year.
Under that deal, South Korea’s Hyundai Samho will build one 174,000-cbm vessel with a price tag of about $181 million and deliver it in the third quarter of 2023. This deal included an option for two additional sister vessels.
These new vessels will be the latest in a series of Sovcomflot’s new-generation conventional Atlanticmax LNG carriers, with three sister ships already in operation: SCF La Perouse, SCF Barents, and SCF Timmerman.
The lead vessel of the series, SCF La Perouse, joined Sovcomflot’s fleet in February 2020 and works for Total as well while the other two ships serve Shell.
Like its sister vessels, the newbuilds will feature GTT’s Mark III Flex cargo containment system but also WinGD slow-speed dual-fuel X-DF engine.
Moreover, the vessels would have a boil-off gas partial reliquefaction system, a hull-air lubrication system, and two shaft generators with electronic frequency converters, Sovcomflot said.