MOL, China COSCO Shipping tie up for Yamal LNG carriers

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, together with China COSCO Shipping agreed to split ownership of four LNG carriers serving the Novatek-operated Yamal LNG project. 

The two companies will own 50 percent equity stake each in the MOL unit owning the vessels, MOL said in a statement on Thursday.

MOL has already agreed on charter deals for the vessels in June this year.

Four carriers with a 174,000 cubic meter capacity will be delivered in 2019 and 2020 and deployed to transport LNG transshipped by the Yamal LNG project from Europe.

This is the fourth joint LNG project involving MOL and China COSCO Shipping, following one for ExxonMobil, with four vessels delivered in 2015 and 2016.

MOL and China COSCO Shipping cooperated on six vessels for Sinopec with delivery from 2016 to 2018 and the ice-class LNG carriers for the Yamal LNG project with delivery scheduled from 2018 to 2019.

The total number of vessels co-owned by MOL and China COSCO Shipping will be increased to 17 in 2020 when all vessels including those in the latest project are in service, MOL said.