December 25, 2024

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DSME’s large-sized LNG carrier (DSME)

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has obtained a 1.07 trillion won ($850 million) order to build four LNG carriers for a Qatari state oil firm, it said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.

The order is the first batch of a $20 billion deal that three South Korean shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and Samsung Heavy Industries -- had signed with Qatar in 2020.

DSME said Tuesday that it will build the LNG carriers in the Okpo shipyard, South Gyeongsang Province, and deliver them to Qatar Petroleum by the first half of 2025.

Qatar, the world’s largest LNG producer, has said it would buy 100 vessels to increase LNG production capacity to 126 million metric tons by 2027 from the current 77 million tons.

On the same day, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering announced that they have recently clinched a 537.5 billion won order to build two large LNG carriers under a deal with Qatar.

KSOE said they cannot disclose the details of the deal. But judging by the size and price of the LNG carriers sold, it is highly likely that it had signed with Qatar Petroleum, according to industry watchers.

KSOE, a subholding company under Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings, has three shipbuilding affiliates -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.

The LNG carriers are expected to be used for the Qatari state oil firm’s $30 billion North Field expansion Project to ramp up LNG output.

By Hong Yoo (yoohong@heraldcorp.com)