Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, one of the country’s biggest shipbuilders, said on Wednesday that it has clinched a $160 million deal with an Asian shipper to build two 84,000-ton liquefied natural gas carriers.

The counterpart in the deal is one of the two companies that previously placed orders worth some $640 million with Daewoo Shipbuilding to build eight very large gas carriers, or VLGCs, the company said.

It added that the name of the potential partner was withheld due to a confidentiality agreement between the two parties.

The vessels under the most recent deal are scheduled to be delivered by the second half of 2016, Daewoo said. With the latest order, the shipbuilder has won orders for 17 vessels worth $1.9 billion this year.

The VLGC, a type of a gas tanker used mainly for shipping, accounts for 70 percent of global liquid petroleum gas transportation.

Orders for VLGCs from Asia and the Americas have been on the rise as demand for LPG grows due to prolonged high prices of crude oil.

(jyseo@heraldcorp.com)