South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries is anticipating that its contract to build a further 10 Arc7 LNG carrier hulls and assist in ship construction at Russia’s Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex for newbuildings to serve Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project could be cancelled.

Local reports in South Korea quoted SHI as saying work on the remaining 10 of the 15 ships covered by the original contract has been “frozen”, although negotiations are said to be continuing.