QatarEnergy signs $2bn deal with Chinese shipyard

QatarEnergy

State-run QatarEnergy has ordered six additional large LNG vessels valued at $2 billion from China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).

The new order brings the total number of LNG vessels to 128, including 24 QC-Max mega vessels.

The QC-Max vessels will be built at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard, a wholly-owned CSSC subsidiary. These vessels will have a capacity of 271,000 cubic metres each.

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The LNG carriers are expected to be delivered between 2028 and 2031.

The six new advanced vessels are in addition to 18 QC-Max vessels ordered from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard in April at $6 billion.

The large vessels will enhance the Qatari energy company’s capacity to meet growing global LNG demand.

In September 2023, QatarEnergy signed a QAR14 billion ($4 billion) contract with South Korean shipyard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to construct 17 LNG carriers.

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The state-owned company reported net profit of QAR101 billion in 2023, down 31 percent from the previous year, as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Revenues fell 15 percent year on year to QR159 billion.

Qatar’s energy minister, Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, said in May that QatarEnergy had secured 25 million tonnes of LNG sales in the past year and expected to sign more this year.

The Gulf nation, one of the world’s top LNG exporters, announced plans in February for an 85 percent expansion in LNG production from its North Field’s current 77 million tonnes per year (mtpa) to 142 mtpa by 2030.