Third LNGC Newbuild Joins SINOPEC LNG Project
The LNG carrier CESI Beihai, ordered by a joint venture comprising Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), China COSCO Shipping Corporation, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), was delivered at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in Shanghai on June 1.
Featuring a cargo tank capacity of 174,100 cbm, the CESI Beihai is the third vessel to serve the China FOB Transportation Project announced in April 2013.
The ship is designated to sail under a long-term charter to transport LNG that SINOPEC purchases from the Australia Pacific LNG project.
A total of six LNG carriers are being built at Hudong for the project. The first vessel, the CESI Gladstone, was delivered in October 2016, and the second, the CESI Qingdao, in January of this year.
The remaining three will be delivered in succession by 2018, MOL said, which holds 20 percent stake in the joint venture.
Total consideration for the construction of the six ships was set at approximately USD 1.5 billion. As disclosed earlier, long term limited recourse debt financing worth USD 1.2 billion was secured for the six ships with a syndicate of banks.
