DSME wins 595.9 bln-won order for 2 LNG carriers

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) said Thursday that it has clinched a 595.9 billion-won (US$422 million) order to build two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for an Oceanian shipping firm.

DSME will deliver the vessels to the undisclosed shipper by the third quarter of 2026, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing.

DSME did not identify the shipping company, but the order is believed to be related to a $19 billion contract that DSME and two other Korean shipbuilding giants -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. -- signed with Qatar Petroleum in June 2020 to construct more than 100 LNG vessels through 2027.

In 2021, Qatar's state-owned oil and gas company changed its name to QatarEnergy.

The contract is in line with Qatar's plan to boost its LNG production capacity to 126 million tons by 2027 from the current 77 million tons. Qatar is the world's top LNG producer.

DSME, the world's No. 4 shipbuilder by order backlog, has bagged $8.6 billion worth of orders to build 36 ships and one offshore plant so far this year, or 97 percent of its yearly target of $8.9 billion.

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