Japan’s shipping giant NYK has joined forces with China’s CNOOC to order six 174,000-cbm LNG carriers from CSSC’s Hudong-Zhonghua for about $1.2 billion.
CSSC said in a statement the firms signed the contract for the second CNOOC LNG transportation project during an online ceremony on April 28.
LNG Prime reported on this order, citing shipbuilding sources, in March.
Prior to that, Hudong signed a contract with CNOOC, Japan’s MOL, and COSCO Shipping for six LNG carriers worth about $1.17 billion, the largest single order for LNG carriers in the history of China’s shipbuilding industry.
CNOOC’s gas and power unit will charter these vessels and use them to transport LNG from Venture Global’s liquefaction plants in the US to China.
12 ships worth more than $2.4 billion
Hudong-Zhonghua said in a separate statement this deal is worth more than 8.4 billion yuan ($1.27 billion), while CSSC’s statement shows a price tag of more than 8 billion yuan.
This compares to about 7.5 billion yuan or some $1.17 billion for the prior six vessels.
In addition, this project also includes China Merchants Group, while CNOOC’s power and gas unit would charter these vessels as well.
CSSC said the NYK, CNOOC, and China Merchants Group would jointly own the vessels.
Also, this is the first time Hudong-Zhonghua would cooperate on LNG carrier construction with NYK and China Merchants Group.
Part of Hudong-Zhonghua’s fifth-generation Changxeng series, the 299 meters long vessels will feature WinGD’s X-DF dual-fuel engines and GTT’s NO96 Super+ containment system.
Hudong-Zhonghua will deliver the twelve vessels from 2024 through 2027.
The shipbuilder has this year won orders for 17 LNG carriers, including four vessels for MOL under the QatarEnergy deal and one ship for CSSC Shipping.