Royal Dutch Shell is said to be proceeding with a newbuilding project for small LNG carriers in a partnership with Russia's SCF Group.
The energy major has been in discussions with shipyards in Russia, Korea and Japan.
Shell and SCF are said to be planning to build around 30,000CBM class LNG carriers.
Industry sources report that Korean shipyards offered newbuilding prices in the region of $80m per ship, while Russian and Japanese yards quoted beyond $100m.