French LNG containment firm GTT has signed a technical assistance and license agreement with Chinese shipyard Cosco Shipping (Qidong) Offshore, a unit of Cosco Shipping.
This new agreement enables the yard to construct GTT’s technologies for offshore LNG units, such as FLNGs or FSRUs, as well as for LNG carriers, according to a GTT statement.
GTT did not provide any additional information.
This yard now could be one of the options, among other Chinese shipbuilders, to build UTM Offshore’s 1.5 mtpa floating LNG producer.
Shipbuilding sources previously told LNG Prime that Chinese yards could build the FLNG for UTM and its contractor Technip Energies/JGC.
Earlier this year, Nigeria’s UTM said that it plans to take FID on the floating LNG project by the end of 2023, but it would most likely delay the decision again.
As per GTT, prior to this deal the ship repair unit of China’s Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding signed a technical services deal with the French firm to repair liquefied natural gas carriers.
GTT received orders for 52 LNG carriers and one floating LNG producer in the first nine months of this year.
This includes contracts from Chinese shipbuilders Hudong-Zhonghua, Jiangnan, DSIC, and China Merchants Heavy Industry-Jiangsu.
This year, GTT also secured a large tank design order from Chinese shipyard Yangzijiang for ten LNG-powered containerships, while it won the first tank order for LNG carriers from the same shipbuilder last year.
GTT’s chief Philippe Berterottière told LNG Prime on Thursday the company expects there will be more than 450 orders for large LNG carriers over the next ten years
He also said that this year up to date GTT won orders for 65 large LNG carriers and expects a “pretty good year” in 2024 and not “far away from 70 LNG carriers”.
