UK-based energy giant and LNG player, BP, tied two finance partners KMarin and ICBC Leasing to invest over $1 billion into the six LNG carriers being built at DSME.
The six LNG carriers have been ordered in 2014 at the South Korean shipbuilder as the company looked to expand its fleet to support its growing LNG portfolio.
The vessels will join existing carriers in BP Shipping’s fleet in 2018 and 2019 and will serve a 20-year liquefaction contract with the Freeport LNG facility in Texas, as well as other international LNG projects in BP’s global portfolio.
BP has a long-term contract for 230 Trillion BTUs per year of LNG capacity in the Freeport LNG facility. The Freeport LNG liquefaction facility is under construction, and the first train is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.
Each vessel will have the capacity to transport 174,000 cubic meters of natural gas and feature M-type, electronically controlled gas-injection (ME-GI) propulsion and DSME’s partial reliquefaction system.