Nigerian shipowner Temile Development Co has signed a breakthrough contract with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to build up to two VLGCs worth more than $248m in total.

The oil and gas services company signed the deal — for a single LPG dual-fuel, 88,000-cbm LPG newbuilding with an option on a second vessel — at London’s Dorchester Hotel, attended by a swathe of high-profile figures from Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.