Kuwait Oil Tanker Co (KOTC) has signed a $556 million contract with South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering to build five new tankers, the state news agency Kuna said.

The four double-hull very large crude carriers (VLCC) will be able to carry 2.2 million barrels of crude each while the fifth vessel is for oil products with a capacity of 800,000 barrels, it said.

Kuwait will take delivery of the tankers in early 2014.

Daewoo Shipbuilding, the world's No. 2 shipbuilder, is aiming for around $11 billion in new orders this year, the same as it initially forecast for 2011, despite a credit crunch that has seen orders cancelled. - Reuters