Korea's Daewoo To Grab Hold of LNG Ship Market

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co Ltd aims to grab half this year's 15 to 20 orders for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers, strengthening its lead in the higher end of the shipbuilding market, the company said on Monday.

Company officials reportedly said that Daewoo was expected to sign a $500 million deal to build an offshore fixed platform in Angola in April. The price for an LNG carrier is about $160-$175 million, about twice the price for a 300,000-ton class very large crude carrier (VLCC).

In 2001, Daewoo Shipbuilding secured 10 of the 29 new liquefied natural gas carrier orders placed worldwide.

Company officials said the overall market still looked tough after excessive orders in 2000, but Daewoo's upperhand in LNG and offshore engineering projects would help push the shipbuilder's order backlog to $9 billion by the end of the year from $8.5 billion. -- (Reuters).