Qatar Petroleum, the world’s largest LNG producer, issued an invitation to tender for the reservation of ship construction capacity required for a fleet of over 100 liquefied natural gas carriers.
The vessels will serve Qatar Petroleum’s North Field Expansion (NFE) project which will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million tons per annum (mta) to 110 mta starting in 2024.
In addition to addressing shipping requirements for the North Field Expansion project, the tender covers shipping requirements for the LNG volumes that will be purchased and offtaken by Ocean LNG.
OceanLNG is a 70/30 percent joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil, that recently reserved volumes from the Golden Pass LNG export project in the United States, which is currently under construction and is planned to start by 2024.
The tender also includes options for replacement requirements for Qatar’s existing LNG fleet, Qatar Petroleum said in its statement on Monday.
“With this significant step, Qatar Petroleum embarks on another major LNG ship-building campaign expected to initially deliver 60 LNG carriers in support of the planned production expansion, with a potential to exceed 100 new LNG carriers over the next decade,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi , the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum.
Qatar Petroleum has entrusted Qatargas to execute this LNG shipbuilding program on its behalf.
The latest invitation to tender, add to the previous campaign that resulted in the construction of 45 Q-Flex and Q-Max ships, the world’s largest LNG carriers, which constitute the backbone of Qatar’s LNG carrier fleet today.