Pre-qualified shipowners bidding to build three LNG carriers for the Ichthys production project have been called in to attend clarification meetings.

Companies are due to meet with officials from project shareholders Total and Inpex in Paris from next week onwards to discuss the vessels.

It is unclear as yet whether all the nine pre-qualified groups will be called in or whether some have already been weeded out.

The current line-up is believed to comprise Mitsui OSK Lines, NYK, K Line, MISC, SK Shipping offering in partnership with Marubeni, Maran Gas Maritime, GasLog, BW Gas and Teekay.

Owners were able to offer in for both newbuildings and existing vessels, although most are said to have proposed the former.

Industry players explained that the process may be complicated by the fact that not all the companies are likely to have offered on all three vessels.

Inpex and Total have asked for bids on a 145,000-cbm to 150,000-cbm LNG carrier, which will be used to ship the Japanese energy outfit’s LNG offtake from the Australian project into the under-construction Naoetsu receiving terminal in Japan.

In addition, a 150,000 to 180,000-cbm LNG carrier is required to ship 2 million tonnes per annum of Total’s project volumes to Korea Gas.

The third 180,000-cbm LNG ship will be utilised by the project partners to lift 1.75 million tpa, which Taiwanese state energy company CPC is buying from Ichthys.

“The partners are running this together at the moment,” a source explained, “but at some stage they will have to go their own ways (on the ships).”

In parallel to the process with the shipowners, a second tender is in play with up to seven Japanese and South Korean shipyards.

The shipbuilders submitted a second round of offers by 31 July. The ships are required for delivery in late 2016 or early the following year.

Two-train, 8.4 million tpa Ichthys LNG was sanctioned in January.

The bulk of the project’s production has been sold to seven Japanese utilities on a free-on-board (FOB) basis with several of the buyers building or chartering in long-term vessels to lift the cargoes.