South Korean shipbuilding giant Samsung Heavy Industries has secured a new order to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
Samsung Heavy said on Monday it will build the LNG carriers for an unidentified owner in Asia-Pacific for 674.5 billion won ($517 million) or about $258.5 million per vessel.
This is one of the highest prices for a single LNG carrier with a capacity of 174,000 cbm.
Hyundai Samho recently won an order from Capital Gas to build two LNG carriers for some $259.5 million per vessel.
Samsung Heavy said it won the deal on March 31, adding that the order is a “conditional contract”.
It plans to deliver the two vessels by November 2026.
The shipbuilder did not provide any additional information regarding the contract.
Shipbuilding sources told LNG Prime on Monday that Japan’s shipping giant K Line is the owner behind this order for two LNG tankers.
This is the second LNG carrier order Samsung Heavy revealed in 2023.
Prior to this order, Samsung Heavy secured a contract from Japan’s MOL to build two LNG carriers for about $248 million per vessel.
Samsung Heavy and JGC also won a contract from Petronas to build the first nearshore FLNG with a capacity of about 2 million tonnes.
Including the FLNG contract worth about $1.5 billion, Samsung Heavy secured orders worth some $2.5 billion this year, or about 26 percent of the order target of $9.5 billion.
Samsung Heavy expects owners to order more than 70 LNG carriers at yards this year.
It secured contracts worth about $9.4 billion in 2022, surpassing its target of $8.8 billion.
This includes 36 LNG carriers, marking a record for the largest number of orders for LNG carriers in a year for the shipbuilder.