The project aims to meet Qatar’s future requirements under its North Field Expansion Project, the largest of its kind in the industry.
QatarEnergy and the Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited (Nakilat) signed time-charter party agreements to operate 25 liquified natural gas (LNG) vessels, the energy company announced on Sunday.
Signed in Doha, the agreements marked the second ship-owner tender under QatarEnergy’s LNG Fleet Expansion Program.
The signing came after a similar agreement was signed on February 10, under which QatarEnergy awarded Nakilat the full ownership and operation of 25 conventional-size LNG carriers.
“These agreements firm up last month’s selection of Nakilat as the owner and operator of up to 25 conventional-size LNG carriers, underscoring our continued confidence in Qatar’s flagship LNG shipping and maritime company,” Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said.
Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyards in South Korea will construct 17 out of the 25 LNG vessels whereas Hanwha Ocean will construct the remaining eight.
Each vessel will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres, chartered by Nakilat to affiliates of QatarEnergy under the 15-year TCP agreements.
A TCP stipulates that a shipowner leases a fully equipped and manned vessel for a fixed period to a charterer.
Al-Kaabi noted that the latest agreements play a crucial role in the LNG shipping programme as Qatar expands its production capacity to reach 142 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) by 2030.
In 2022, the Qatari company concluded the first phase of its fleet expansion project by signing long-term TCPs for the charter and operation of 60 LNG ships.
The project aims to meet Qatar’s future requirements under its North Field Expansion Project, the largest of its kind in the industry.
The multibillion project comes under Qatar’s LNG endeavours and is split into two parts; the North Field East (NFE) and the North Field South (NFS).
NFE is set to ramp up Qatar’s LNG production from 77 to 110 mtpa by 2025, as the NFS will increase the production capacity from 110 to 126 mtpa by 2026.
On February 25, QatarEnergy announced a new LNG expansion project, North Field West. The expansion would boost the local LNG production to 142 mtpa before the end of 2030.
The expansion would boost Qatar’s economy, with the country already positioned as one of the leading LNG producers alongside the United States and Australia.
The fleet expansion programme also aims to support the shipment of gas produced from the Golden Pass LNG Export Project in Texas, a joint venture between QatarEnergy and Exxon Mobil Corp.
Golden Pass LNG has a production capacity of at least 18 million tonnes per annum and is set to begin its first production by the end of 2024.
In October 2022, QatarEnergy Trading and ExxonMobil signed an agreement stipulating the former would “independently offtake and market their respective proportionate equity shares” of LNG in the U.S. project.
In 2016, affiliates of QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil established a joint venture Ocean LNG Limited to offtake and market the production at the Texas gas entity.
