Qatar Petroleum inks $19.23bn LNG carrier mega-deals with Korean yards

The agreements with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) will see the yards reserving a “major portion” of their LNG shipbuilding capacity through to 2027. The agreements were signed virtually on Monday between the top executives of the Korean shipbuilders and Qatar Petroleum.

With the new orders in place HE Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar Minister of State for Energy Affairs and president and ceo of Qatar Petroleum, said the energy company had everything in place to “commence the largest LNG shipbuilding programme in history”.

"We have secured approximately 60% of the global LNG shipbuilding capacity through 2027 to cater for our LNG carrier fleet requirements in the next 7-8 years, which could reach 100+ new vessels with a program value in excess of 70 billion Qatari Riyals," he said.

In April Qatar Petroleum signed a $2.86bn contract for the construction of LNG carriers at CSSC Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

The vessels ordered at Korean yards will be equipped with slow speed dual fuel engines allowing them to use LNG for fuel.

The Minister said that Qatar was moving full speed ahead with its North Field expansion projects to raise capacity from 77mtpa to 126mtpa by 2027.

Related:Hudong-Zhonghua inks $2.86bn LNG carrier order from Qatar

"The agreements will ensure our ability to meet our future LNG fleet requirements to support our expanding LNG production capacity and long-term fleet replacement requirements,” he said.