Azerbaijan, Baku, May 31 / Trend /
Iran has placed an order to produce the first tanker to carry liquefied natural gas in China. It will be handed over to the Iranian side in four years, executive director of the Iranian state tanker company NITC Mohammad Suri said, econews.ir. reported.
He added that the cost of each vessel according to experts ranging from $200-220 million.
Investments worth $ 1.2 billion are required for the formation of the fleet of LNG tankers.
"After the implementation of Iran's LNG project, 11 million tons of LNG will be produced a year," Suri said.
"On average a single vessel is required for the transportation of one million tons of LNG," Suri said.
According to Suri, local companies deal with transportation of 50 percent of LNG. "For this reason, we need 5-6 vessels carrying LNG within the project", Suri said.
Chinese companies will build the first Iranian ships, transporting natural gas. "The reason is that these companies pay 90 percent of financing of construction," Suri said.
Construction of LNG-tankers by Chinese companies cost 10 percent less than their construction by South Korean companies.