South Korea's shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has entered into an agreement to build two 158,000dwt Suezmax crude tankers for Turkey-based shipping company Ditas Shipping.

The deal, worth between US$120m to US$140m, will see HHI deliver the vessels to their owner in 2018, according to Yonhap news agency. After HHI failed to win any orders in January, this deal marks the first one this year.

The order comes as the shipbuilding industry reported a slow start of 2016. Namely, the South Korea's three major shipbuilders reported a drop in earnings, due to a protracted decrease in oil prices and increased costs.

HHI recently booked a net loss of US$1.13bn for 2015, a 38.2% drop from a year ago when it posted a US$1.84bn loss.

HHI's sales were down by 12.1% compared to a year earlier, while operating loss decreased by 52.6% year-on-year.

"2015 was a tough year for us due to unfavorable market conditions such as prolonged low oil prices and global economic downturn," said HHI.