QatarEnergy signed long-term time charter party (TCP) agreements with four international shipowners for the operation of 19 new, ultra-modern conventional size liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels as part of the second ship-owner tender under QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet expansion program. In February, QatarEnergy announced new plans to expand North Field production from 77 to 142 MTPA by 2030, including 16 MTPA of additional production from North Field West. The expansion builds upon earlier estimates that called for 110 MTPA in export capacity by 2026.
Six vessels will be operated by CMES LNG Carrier Investment Inc., another six vessels will be operated by Shandong Marine Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd., and three vessels will be operated by MISC Berhad. These 15 vessels are being constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The remaining four vessels will be operated by a joint venture of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K-Line) and Hyundai Glovis Co. Ltd. and are being constructed at Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) — also in South Korea.
Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs and president and chief executive officer of QatarEnergy, signed four separate sets of agreements with Wang Yongxin, president and CEO of CMES LNG Carrier Investment, Li Maozhong, chair of Shandong Marine Energy, Satoshi Kanamori, managing executive officer of K Line and Jungsuk Kim vice president of Hyundai Glovis, and Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam president and CEO of MISC Berhad. The agreements were signed on March 31 in a special ceremony held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha, and attended by senior executives from QatarEnergy, QatarEnergy LNG, and the four shipowner companies.
“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 in the history of the industry,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi. “These ships will support our expanded LNG production capacity from the North Field in Qatar and Golden Pass in the United States, while also meeting our long-term fleet replacement requirements. The careful shipowner selection process followed a detailed and rigorous global tender, signifying QatarEnergy’s commitment to expanding its fleet of modern LNG carriers in collaboration with world-class shipowners and in an open and transparent manner. We are very proud to strengthen our collaboration with these esteemed shipowners. And, we have full confidence that the 19 vessels will be operated with the latest and most advanced safety, technical, and environmental standards. This is an important undertaking that will enable QatarEnergy to continue delivering cleaner energy to the world safely and reliably.”
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 program. 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.
Out of 104 total ships, 43 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.
The 19 new conventional LNG vessels each have a capacity of 174,000 m3 and will be equipped with the latest LNG shipping technologies to achieve optimal fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
