QatarEnergy orders six more LNG vessels from China State Shipbuilding
Sept 9 (Reuters) - QatarEnergy has signed a deal with China State Shipbuilding Corporation to buy six additional ultra-large ships to carry liquefied natural gas, it said on Monday, raising such vessels it has on order to 128 as part of a fleet-expansion programme.
The ships, QC-Max, are the largest LNG vessels ever built, with a capacity of 271,000 cubic metres each, QatarEnergy said. They will be built at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard, with delivery expected between 2028 and 2031.
QatarEnergy, already among the world’s top LNG exporters, will boost its position with its North Field expansion project, which will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity from 77 million tons per annum to 142 mtpa by 2030.
The agreement with CSSC takes the total number of QC-Max vessels on order by QatarEnergy to 24, worth a total of about $8 billion, QatarEnergy said.
(Reporting by Mohd Edrees in Bengaluru; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Jan Harvey)
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.