The 15-year charters form part of the second ship-owner tender under QatarEnergy’s significant LNG fleet expansion program.
All of the 25 vessels are being built in Korea, with 17 under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and eight at Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering).
The charter agreements were signed by HE Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy and Mr. Abdullah Al Sulaiti, the CEO of Nakilat, in a ceremony held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha on March 24, attended by senior executives from QatarEnergy, QatarEnergy LNG, and Nakilat.
“These agreements firm up last month’s selection of Nakilat as the owner and operator of up to 25 conventional-size LNG carriers, underscoring our continued confidence in Qatar’s flagship LNG shipping and maritime company. This is a testament to Nakilat’s world-class capabilities as well as to the significant contributions of Qatari listed companies to our country’s national economy,” said Al-Kaabi.
Each of the 25 vessels will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters and will be chartered out by Nakilat to affiliates of QatarEnergy pursuant to the 15-year agreements.
“The agreements we signed today play an important role in implementing QatarEnergy’s historic LNG shipping program, which will cater for our future requirements, as we move forward with the expansion of our LNG production capacity to 142 million tons per annum by 2030, ensuring additional cleaner and reliable energy supplies to the world,” added Al-Kaabi.
