Chief executives of South Korea's three major shipbuilders will join the world's biggest gas and liquefied natural gas conference in Japan next month, industry sources said Wednesday, amid the growing demand for LNG carriers to meet rising natural gas consumption in emerging economies.

South Korea has emerged as a major player in the production of LNG carriers and floating storage and regasification units in recent years with three South Korean shipbuilders clinching a large portion of these orders in the global market.

Local yards have swept orders for all 21 FSRUs, currently in operation, and six others under construction.

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. won a $230 million deal to build an FRSU in January and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.

last month signed a letter of intent with a US firm to build seven FSRUs.

Ka Sam-hyun, president of the shipbuilding division at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., will lead a 20-member delegation to Gastech 2017, the world's largest gas and LNG exhibition and conference, in Chiba on April 4-7.

Hyundai Heavy has secured orders for two LNG carriers this year.

The company and its two affiliates have won orders for 92 LNG ships and FRSUs since they entered the market in 2011 and have completed the construction of 77 out of those orders.

Also joining the Gastech conference are Jung Sung-leep, president of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., and Park Dae-young, president and CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries Co. They will also be accompanied by scores of senior officials from their companies to promote icebreaking LNG carriers and other products.

Daewoo Shipbuilding has so far won orders for 153 LNG carriers, the world's biggest, with 51 carriers still under construction.

"The conference will serve as a good opportunity for South Korean shipbuilders to undertake marketing activities as they have been leading the world's LNG carrier industry amid growing demand for them," an industry source said.

Royal Dutch Shell, a global oil and gas firm, has said global demand for LNG reached 265 million tons in 2016, and is expected to grow at twice the rate of gas demand, at 4 to 5 percent a year through 2030.

The number of LNG importing countries rose to 35 last year from 10 in 2000. Six countries were added to the list in 2015 alone -- Colombia, Egypt, Jamaica, Jordan, Pakistan and Poland. (Yonhap)