QatarEnergy signed April 29 long-term time charter party agreements with three Chinese shipowners for the operation of nine new, ultra-modern LNG ships with a capacity of 271,000 cu m each, as part of its historic LNG fleet expansion program, the company said.

The nine ships are part of 18 QC-Max LNG carriers that will be built in Hudong-Zhonghua shipyards in China, QatarEnergy said in its website.
QatarEnergy had also signed an agreement with China State Shipbuilding Corp. for the construction of 18 ultra-modern QC-Max size LNG ships on April 29, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier.

The three Chinese shipowners are CMES Shipping, a subsidiary of state-owned China Merchants Group, China LNG Shipping (Holdings), a joint venture between state-owned COSCO Shipping and China Merchants, and provincial government-owned Shandong Marine Group, according to announcements published by the three companies on their official social media platform April 29-30.

Separately, QatarEnergy signed a long-term TCP agreement with CMES Shipping for the operation of four ships, with CLNG for the operation of two LNG ships and with Shandong Marine Energy for the operation of three ships, announcements from the related parties showed.

The agreements were signed in a special ceremony held in Beijing and attended by senior executives from QatarEnergy and the three shipowner companies, they said.

“These nine ships are part of QatarEnergy’s historic program to support our expanded LNG production capacity from the North Field, which will reach 142 million mt/year by 2030, and which will also help meet our long-term fleet replacement requirements,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and CEO of QatarEnergy.

“Our partnerships with China’s shipbuilding industry and the esteemed shipowners, will ensure the long-term operation, deployment, and management of these ships in a manner that maximizes their potential over decades to come,” he added.

This is the second cooperation between CMES Shipping and QatarEnergy after the two companies signed a long-term time charter agreement for six 174,000 cu m large LNG carrier projects in Doha on March 31, China Merchants said.

Meanwhile, Shandong Marine Energy said it has successively provided three offshore oil drilling services to QatarEnergy and signed six 174,000 cu m large LNG carrier projects with them in recent years.

The deal for three more LNG carriers with QatarEnergy shows that the company has further gained recognition from international energy companies, Shandong Marine Energy said on the announcement.

Source: Platts