LNG Prime was the first to report earlier this year that yards in South Korea and China were competing to win an order to build LNG carriers for LNG producer Nigeria LNG.
Sources said on Tuesday that BGT has now chosen Hudong-Zhonghua to build three 174,000-cbm LNG carriers.
There is also an option for three more vessels.
The sources said that the shipbuilding deal is expected to be signed in the first quarter of 2026.
Moreover, the price of each of the vessels is said to be between $230 and $240 million.
The vessels are expected to feature GTT’s NO96 Super+ containment tech and WinGD 2.0 engines
The delivery of the new vessels is slated for 2029.
Fleet renewal
The new move is part of NLNG’s fleet renewal initiative, which aims to diversify and reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s shipping portfolio.
NLNG’s website previously showed that the firm operated a fleet of 23 vessels under long-term time charters, dedicated to transporting LNG from its Bonny plant.
These include 13 vessels (six TFDE and seven steam ships) owned by its shipping unit BGT.
The remaining vessels are owned by Japan’s NYK (eight steam ships), and BW Gas (two steam ships).
As part of its fleet renewal, NLNG’s BGT chartered newbuild vessels Aktoras and Axios II.
These 174,000-cbm LNG carriers, built in 2024, are owned by Capital Clean Energy Carriers.
Expansion
Nigerian state-owned NNPC has a 49 percent stake in NLNG, UK-based Shell holds 25.6 percent, France’s TotalEnergies has 15 percent, and Italy’s Eni owns 10.4 percent.
The Bonny Island liquefaction plant currently has six trains and a capacity of 22 mtpa, but NLNG is also adding the seventh production unit.
The NLNG Train 7 project consists of the construction of one complete LNG train and one additional liquefaction unit.
Following completion, the project will add around 8 mtpa of capacity to the Bonny Island facility for a total of about 30 mtpa.
