MOL-ONGC deal puts Samsung Heavy Industries on very large ethane carrier pair construction duty
Japan’s shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has struck a charter deal with India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC), which enables South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to build two very large ethane carriers (VLECs).
MOL and ONGC have established two joint ventures, Bharat Ethane One IFSC Private and Bharat Ethane Two IFSC Private, which signed a 15-year charter contract with India’s state-owned oil and gas player for two newbuilding VLECs.
The 100,000-cubic-meter very large ethane carriers will be equipped with dual-fuel main engines capable of burning ethane as fuel. These vessels are scheduled for construction at Samsung Heavy Industries Geoje Shipyard.
The VLECs’ delivery is slated for late 2028 or later, after which the vessels will be engaged in transporting liquefied ethane from the U.S. to India to be supplied as feedstock to the petrochemical plant operated by ONGC’s subsidiary, ONGC Petro Additions, in Dahej, Gujarat.
This contract expands MOL’s VLEC fleet to 16 vessels, said to be the largest such fleet in the world. After launching its ethane transport business in 2016 as the world’s first VLEC
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