Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, is expected to take the lead in the global gas vessel construction business this year.

“A growing number of liquefied natural gas exploration and production projects around the world have given their approval for (using) DSME,” said Han Young-soo, an analyst at Samsung Securities.

DSME’s core business lies in building liquefied natural gas, or LNG, carriers.

The tankers are built to ship LNG that is produced offshore.

During the first two months of this year, DSME won three orders to build 14 ships. A total of 10 out of the 14 gas vessels will be constructed as gas carriers.

At the beginning of this month, DSME also won a $410 million order for two LNG carriers from an undisclosed European buyer.

Just this week, the global shipbuilder announced that it nabbed a $640 million order to build eight LPG tankers, which transport liquefied petroleum gas, for two Asian shippers.

The tankers, each with a capacity of 84,000 cubic meters, will be delivered by the second half of 2016, DSME said in a statement.

Such volumes put the tankers in the category of Very Large Gas Carriers ― LPG tankers that have a capacity of at least 60,000 cubic meters.

DSME has been spearheading the market for such Very Large Gas Carriers. It set a record in 2009 by building the world’s largest LNG carrier, with a capacity of 210,000 cubic meters.

“DSME will soon sign another mega-LNG carrier deal in Russia in the next few months,’’ Han said.

Under the Yamal LNG project, Russia will select the bidder to construct 16 ice-class LNG tankers over the next few months. DSME defeated its rivals in June 2013 when Russia chose it from among a slew of global competitors.

Industry watchers said it is not yet certain whether Yamal LNG will launch the $5 billon mega-LNG shipbuilding order as scheduled, but that it seems DSME has gained the upper hand in the deal.

The amount of orders DSME won in the first two months of the year stood at $1.44 billion, which is about 10 percent of the firm’s annual order target of $14.5 billion.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)