State-owned oil and gas company Qatar Petroleum has signed a deal, worth more than QAR11bn ($2.99bn), with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), to reserve LNG ship construction capacity.
Under the terms of the agreement, Hudong will reserve a significant portion of its LNG ship construction capacity in China, for Qatar Petroleum through the year 2027.
Qatar Petroleum president and CEO, and Qatar Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said: “By entering into this agreement to reserve a major portion of Hudong’s LNG ship construction capacity through the year 2027, we are confident that we are on the right track to ensuring that our future LNG fleet requirements will be met in due time to support our increasing LNG production capacity.”
The reserved LNG carrier construction capacity would be used by the Qatari firm for future LNG carrier fleet requirements, including the ongoing North Field expansion projects.
North Field expansion projects to increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 126 Mtpa
The North Field expansion projects are expected to increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 126 million tons per annum (Mtpa) from current 77 Mtpa.
The project involves the expansion of the North gas field, which is located off the north-east coast of Qatar.
CSSC chairman Lei Fanpei said: “The 174,000 cubic meter LNG carrier for Qatar Petroleum is the latest generation of LNG carrier design customized by CSSC for Qatar.
“The carrier has the world’s leading performance for efficiency, reliability and environmental conservation, demonstrating CSSC Group’s great efforts and commitment to the success of Qatar Petroleum’s projects.”
In January 2020, Qatar Petroleum has signed a 15-year deal to supply up to three million tons per year of LNG to Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).
