BP Shipping announced on December 12 that the UK-based shipping company had entered into an agreement to build 14 MR Product Carriers (PC) with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.

Hyundai Mipo President Choi Won-Gil and BP Shipping CEO John Ridgway had a signing ceremony in London, the UK, on the same day.

Out of the 14 newbuildings, nine units are said to be 50,000 dwt with the rest five to be 40,000 dwt and delivery is planned from the first quarter of 2016 till the second half of 2017 in order.

Chief executive John Ridgway said, “The safe transportation of hydrocarbons for the BP Group is always BP Shipping’s purpose. This deal underlines our commitment to delivering oil and gas safely, and also our drive to do this as efficiently as possible.”

Industry players estimate the 50K PC price at $37m apiece or up to $44m depending on specification while 40K PC at 35-$42m.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Mipo announced through a regulatory filing on December 13 that the Korean shipbuilder had entered into an agreement to build 14 PCs with BP Shipping of the UK.

With the contract awarded on December 12, the last unit of the newbuilds is slated for delivery in July 31, 2017.

The contract value comes at KRW 602.7bn, or around $573m apiece in dollar value with the average price per unit at around $40.93m.

Including the latest contract, HMD has won a total of 167 newbuildings for around $5.8bn including 131 medium-sized PCs in this year to date, surpassing its yearly order target, $3.2bn, by around $2.6bn. Such performance represents great improvement compared to 53 vessels (worth $2.01bn) recorded in 2011 and 73 units ($2.94bn) in 2012.

Particularly, among the newbuildings inked this year, fuel-saving medium-sized PC, Hyundai Mipo’s key vessel type, accounted for 78% of the total orders with 131 units, thus productivity is expected to much develop further ahead.

The Ulsan-based builder spent this year with improving its newbuilding competition through creating a niche market as it was also awarded contracts for 13 bulkers, 11 containerships, eight gas carriers, four PCTCS along with PCs.

However, as for the vessels penned till the first half of this year, their newbuilding prices were valued still low that the builder is planning to focus on promoting profitability through enhancing productivity ahead.