[LNG Prime/ March 25, 2024] South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has secured an LNG carrier order worth about $1.84 billion as part of QatarEnergy’s massive shipbuilding program.

The shipbuilder said on Monday it will build eight LNG carriers for an owner in Oceania and deliver them by January 2028.

Hanwha Ocean did not reveal the name of the company but QatarEnergy announced on Sunday that it has signed time charter agreements for 25 LNG carriers with Nakilat as part of the second phase of the shipbuilding program, saying that eight of these 174,000 cbm vessels will be built by Hanwha Ocean.

Prior to this, Hanwha Ocean signed a memorandum of understanding for 12 LNG carrieers tied to the shipbuilding program.

The price of about $230 million per LNG carrier is also in line with the previous orders under the second part of the program. It is also much less then the current price of about $265-270 million for 174,000 cbm LNG carriers in South Korea.

Last year, QatarEnergy signed a deal for 17 LNG carriers worth about $3.9 billion with HD Hyundai Heavy, kicking off the second phase of the shipbuilding program.

In addtion, Samsung Heavy also secured a large order to build 15 LNG carriers for about $3.45 billion and this order is also tied to the program.