Qatar Petroleum inks huge China LNG carrier deal

State-run Qatar Petroleum said Wednesday it has entered into a deal to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in China as part of ongoing North Field expansion projects.

QP signed the deal with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a unit of China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

The deal potentially worth more than 11 billion Qatari riyals ($3 billion) involves up to sixteen 174,000 cubic meter LNG carriers.

This contract is the first part of a huge order that could include more than 60 liquefied natural gas carriers in total.

QP’s LNG carrier fleet program is the largest of its kind in the history of the LNG industry.

The deal signed on Wednesday will reserve a major portion of Hudong’s LNG ship construction capacity through the year 2027.

The agreement was signed by Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QP, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and Lei Fanpei, the Chairman of CSSC, during a virtual ceremony.

Al-Kaabi said that by entering this deal QP is on “the right track to ensuring that the company’s future fleet requirements will be met in due time to support its increasing LNG production capacity”.

To remind, QP recently launched a drilling campaign for the North Field East Project as part of plans to expand LNG production.

This phase of the North Field expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 million tons per annum.

The second phase of the North Field LNG expansion project, called the North Field South Project, will further boost Qatar’s production capacity to 126 million tons per year.