BEIJING, July 3 -- The Export-Import Bank of China, a wholly state-owned bank, said on Thursday it will lend 400 million U.S. dollars for building four liquified natural gas (LNG) carriers.

The bank said the four carriers, each with a shipment capacity of 174,000 cubic meters, belong to four companies, including CNOOC Energy Technology and Services, China LNG Shipping Limited, Teekay LNG Partners and BW's LNG investment arm.

Shanghai-based Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a core enterprise under the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, will build the carriers, the bank said.

An LNG carrier is a tank ship designed for transporting liquified natural gas, and it demands the highest technologies in shipbuilding. So far the bank has provided 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in financial support for the building of 16 large LNG carriers, the biggest in terms of bank lending in the country.