Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has inked time-charter deals for four newbuilding liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers with Novatek Gas & Power Asia, a subsidiary of Russia’s PAO Novatek.

The 174,000 cu m vessels will be built at South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and are slated for delivery in 2024. No price has been revealed.

According to MOL, the newbuildings will be considerably more environmentally friendly than current LNG carriers. They will be equipped with MAN Energy Solutions engines for fuel efficiency and adopt a new design that generates less boil-off gas from cargo tanks through the use of the re-liquefaction unit on board.

Novatek also signed up for MOL’s LNG carrier quartet in 2017, to serve on the Yamal LNG project in 2019 and 2020. In November last year, MOL ordered another three icebreaking LNG carriers for Novatek charter to serve the Arctic LNG 2 project upon delivery in 2023.