Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., a major shipbuilder here, said Thursday that it has clinched a 414 billion won ($363 million) deal to build two liquefied natural gas carriers.

Under the deal with an unidentified customer, Daewoo Shipbuilding will deliver the vessels by August 2019, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The deal includes an option to build two more LNG ships, which will jack up the value of the deal to 830 billion won, it said.

The shipbuilding deal is Daewoo Shipbuilding's first contract of the year, which will help the shipyard repay part of 440 billion won in debt due in April.

Last month, Daewoo Shipbuilding also signed a letter of intent with a US firm to build up to seven floating storage and regasification units.

Daewoo Shipbuilding expects the deal to be officially finalized in April, it said earlier.

Daewoo Shipbuilding did not reveal the terms of the contract, but industry sources said the deal may fetch up to $1.6 billion.

A series of shipbuilding deals came as it has been dealing with a sharp fall in new orders amid squeezed cash flows.

The shipyard also said it has won a deal to deliver two oil tankers under construction next year, but it did not reveal the value of the deal.

The shipyard should pay off or refinance up to 1 trillion won worth of debts that mature this year, but the shipbuilder's financial status is not good enough to deal with the situation amid the dearth of new orders and a delay in the delivery of drill ships.

Daewoo Shipbuilding has 440 billion won in debt scheduled to be due in April, 300 billion won in July and 200 billion won in November. (Yonhap)