Qatar Petroleum has announced that they signed three agreements with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), respectively, to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in South Korea, to be used for Qatar Petroleum’s future LNG carrier fleet requirements.

Under the deals, the "Big 3" shipyards of South Korea will reserve a large portion of their LNG shipbuilding capability to Qatar Petroleum until 2027.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum said:"The signing of today’s agreements with the three esteemed Korean companies reflects our commitment to the North Field expansion projects, even during these extraordinary times.As I have previously stated, we are moving full steam ahead with the North Field expansion projects to raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million today to 126 million tons per annum by 2027 to ensure the reliable supply of additional clean energy to the world at a time when investments to meet these requirements are most needed. 

"These agreements will ensure our ability to meet our future LNG fleet requirements to support our expanding LNG production capacity and long-term fleet replacement requirements," Al-Kaabi added.

The new LNG vessels will be equipped with the current generation slow speed dual-fuel engines, using LNG as a fuel, according to the QP CEO.

Maritime Business World