QatarEnergy inks charters with MISC, Shandong Marine, K-Line and Hyundai Glovis

The charter party agreements are part of its second shipowner tender under QatarEnergy’s historic LNG fleet expansion program.

The agreements cater for the operation of six vessels, have a capacity of 174,000 cu metres each and will be equipped with the latest LNG shipping technologies, by CMES LNG Carrier Investment, six vessels by Shandong Marine Energy (Singapore), and three vessels by MISC; all of which are being constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The remaining four vessels will be operated by a joint venture of K-Line and Hyundai Glovis and are being constructed at Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Commenting on this occasion, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said: “Today’s signings form a significant milestone in QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet expansion program, as it marks the conclusion of the conventional sizes vessels portion of program, bringing the total number of ships for which we have signed TCPs to 104 vessels, a massive undertaking that is the largest shipbuilding and leasing program ever in the history of the industry.

“These ships will support our expanded LNG production capacity from the North Field in Qatar and Golden Pass in the US, while also meeting our long-term fleet replacement requirements.”

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Since 2022, QatarEnergy has signed a series of TCPs for the long-term charter and operation of 104 conventional LNG vessels, as part of its  LNG fleet expansion programme. This initiative will support QatarEnergy’s expanding LNG production capacity from the North Field LNG expansion and Golden Pass LNG export projects, as well as meeting its long-term fleet replacement requirements.

Forty-three ships out of the 104 will be chartered by QatarEnergy’s affiliate “QatarEnergy Trading”, marking it the single largest one-step ship acquisition program of any single entity in the history of the LNG industry, and placing QatarEnergy and consequently QatarEnergy Trading firmly on the road to becoming a leading global LNG trader.