China’s Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation has agreed to buy stakes in MOL’s three 174,000-cbm LNG carriers being built by Hudong-Zhonghua.
According to a statement by CSET, its unit Cosco Shipping LNG Investment (Shanghai) will buy 49 percent in each of the three single-ship entities established by MOL in Liberia and will participate in the construction of the vessels.
Back in September last year, MOL signed a deal to charter these three newbuild LNG carriers to a unit of Chinese independent gas distributor ENN.
China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding will build these vessels and deliver them by 2028.
Sources told LNG Prime at the time MOL could pay between $230-240 million per vessel.
Part of Hudong-Zhonghua’s fifth-generation Changxeng series, these 299 meters long vessels feature WinGD’s X-DF dual-fuel engines and also GTT’s NO96 Super+ containment system.
After delivery, the vessels will be engaged mainly in transport of LNG, procured by ENN under long-term purchase contracts, to China.
ENN operates a large LNG terminal in the Zhoushan area of Zhejiang province.
On the other hand, CSET has stakes in 73 LNG carriers, according to its website.
This includes 42 vessels in operation and 31 ships on order.
CSLNG, a wholly-owned unit of CSET, and China LNG Shipping (CLNG), of which CSET holds 50 percent equity, are the only two large LNG shipping companies in China.
CSLNG jointly owns LNG carriers which transport LNG from the Yamal LNG project in Russia, the APLNG project in Australia, the PNG LNG project in Papua New Guniea, as well as for other projects.
