Chinese shipyard hosts naming ceremony for another vessel in QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet expansion spree

Japan’s shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has held a naming ceremony for a newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier, which is the third one to get its name at China’s shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding since September 2024, as part of QatarEnergy’s historic LNG shipbuilding program.

In 2022, QatarEnergy originally ordered four LNG carriers with MOL, as part of the first set of time-charter parties (TCPs) awarded under the Qatari giant’s massive LNG shipping program. A few months later, the firm inked another long-term charter contract for three more newbuild LNG carriers with the Japanese player.

These vessels, ordered in November 2022 and scheduled for delivery in 2027, will also be built at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in China, just like the first batch of four ships, with two named in September 2024.

According to MOL, the third LNG carrier also got its name at the same shipyard in China. Once the vessel was named Hlaitan in honor of one of the archaeological areas in Qatar, the mooring lines were cut.

This is the third of the seven newbuild LNG carriers ordered for QatarEnergy in 2022 and will be under long-term charter contracts with QatarEnergy Trading. Recently, four more conventional-size tankers were named after locations in Qatar.

The company’s shipbuilding program has grown considerably since the first set of orders, with the latest six-vessel order, placed with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), in September 2024, bringing the tally to 128, including 24 QC-Max mega vessels.

QatarEnergy sees the build-out of its LNG fleet as a key enabler of its production boost with the planned expansion projects at the 1971-discovered North Field, which is shared between Qatar and Iran, known as South Pars on the Iranian side.

This asset is perceived to be the world’s largest single non-associated natural gas field. The firm’s LNG expansion program entails the North Field East (NFE), the North Field South (NFS), and the North Field West (NFW) projects, which are expected to raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 142 million tons per annum (mtpa) in 2030.​

Recently, QatarEnergy signed a new long-term sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Shell to supply 3 million tons of LNG per year to China. This follows two previous long-term LNG deals the duo inked for up to 3.5 mtpa of LNG from Qatar to the Netherlands for 27 years.