Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has placed an order for three very large crude carriers (VLCCs) with South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
The contract is worth KRW 282 billion ($ 260 million), according to the shipbuilder.
The VLCC trio will be compliant with the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) 2 once constructed at DSME’s Okpo shipyard. The contract includes options for three additional ships.
The vessels are scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2023.
DSME said that the ships are intended to run on low sulphur fuel, instead of being fitted with a scrubber, to meet the IMO 2020 Sulphur Cap, or feature a duel-fuel engine enabling the ship to run on LNG as its potential future fuel.
If ADNOC moves forwards with the LNG dual-fuel option, the ships will become the industry’s first ultra-large crude oil carriers to have a high-pressure dual-fuel engine (ME-GI engine) and a fuel tank made of high manganese steel.
DSME has won orders for a total of 21 ships this year including 9 LNG carriers, 4 container ships, 2 shuttle tankers, 5 VLCCs, and 1 VLGC, achieving about 56.3% of its target.