A unit of the Hague-based energy giant Shell has agreed long-term charter contracts for four 174,000-cbm newbuild LNG carriers.
Shell Tankers signed the deals with Norway’s Knutsen, South Korea’s Pan Ocean Co., and investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Shell said in a statement on Tuesday.
Additionally, South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Samho will build and start delivering the ships from mid-2024.
This order builds on the long-term charters that Shell announced for eight ships of the same class in December 2019 and six in August 2020.
According to Shell, the new LNG carriers incorporate the latest industry learnings and recommendations on safety, including MEG4-compliant moorings.
Furthermore, they will all feature dual-fuel X-DF engines, boil-off management plants, air lubrication systems and shaft generators for auxiliary power along with optimised hull and design speed.
This will deliver around a 50% reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2008 steam turbine LNG carriers, Shell claims.
“These ships will play a key role in lowering emissions from the Shell time charter fleet,” said Grahaeme Henderson, Shell’s head of shipping.
“As well as reducing emissions from our own operations, we are actively working with the industry to help accelerate shipping’s progress towards net-zero. The ships’ designs have been developed with Hyundai Heavy Industries and the owners to deliver the lowest emission LNG carriers on the water,” said Henderson.
“And we will continue to collaborate so that as an industry we can take forward these design ideas and progressively reduce emissions from the global fleet,” he added.