Qatar would soon release its tender for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, according to Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister and the CEO of Qatar Petroleum.
“In a few weeks, qualified shipyards will be invited to participate in a tender for the provision of LNG ship construction slots for the LNG shipping fleet required for the LNG expansion project,” he said.
The upcoming tender was revealed at the sidelines of the 19th International Conference & Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas in Shanghai (LNG2019), during which Qatar Petroleum unveiled a number of major contracts for Qatar’s LNG expansion project, designed to increase LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 million tons per year by 2024.
Some of the contracts include awarding the fabrication and installation of the offshore jackets to McDermott, as well as the deal for early site works required to prepare the site of the four new 8 mtpa LNG mega-trains in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Additionally, Al-Kaabi confirmed that Qatar Petroleum is in the tendering phase for 8 rigs for the development drilling. The onshore facilities FEED will be completed in the next few days, while the main invitations to tenders for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the facilities would be issued before the end of this month.
In mid-February, 2019, Al-Kaabi confirmed the speculations that the Middle Eastern nation would order up to 60 new LNG carriers at a press conference held on the sidelines of the launch of TAWTEEN programme, according to The Peninsula .
At the time, he explained that Qatar was in advanced negotiations to order between 50 and 60 gas carriers to transport the additional volume of nearly 50 million tonnes of LNG, including the LNG output volume abroad.