104 vessels! The largest LNG vessel project in history achieved an important milestone.

Qatar's "100-ship plan" has achieved another milestone, signing long-term time charter contracts with four shipping companies for a total of 19 new LNG carriers. So far, the number of new 174,000 cbm conventional LNG carriers under QatarEnergy's "100-ship plan" has exceeded 100.

On March 31, QatarEnergy signed four charter agreements at its Doha headquarters with CMES LNG Carrier Investment, a subsidiary of China Merchants Energy Shipping, Shandong Ocean Energy (Singapore), Japan's Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, South Korea's Hyundai Glovis, and Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC). These agreements cover Qatar's orders for 15 LNG carriers from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea and 4 orders from Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering).

      According to the contracts, CMES LNG Carrier Investment and Shandong Ocean Energy (Singapore) will each operate 6 LNG carriers, while MISC will operate another 3. All 15 of these vessels will be built by Samsung Heavy Industries. The 4 vessels built by Hanwha Ocean will be operated by a joint venture between Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Hyundai Glovis.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy, stated: "This signing is an important milestone for QatarEnergy's LNG fleet expansion program. It marks the completion of the conventional size vessel (174,000 cbm) portion of the program, bringing the total number of vessels for which the company has signed time charter agreements to 104. This is a massive undertaking and the largest shipbuilding and leasing program in the industry's history."

"These vessels will support our expansion of LNG production capacity for Qatar's North Field Project and the Golden Pass Project in the United States, while also meeting our long-term fleet renewal needs. The careful shipowner selection process was conducted after a detailed and stringent global tender, signifying QatarEnergy's commitment to collaborating with world-class shipowners to expand its modern LNG carrier fleet in an open and transparent manner."

It is understood that Qatar's "100-ship plan" was launched in 2020. QatarEnergy signed memorandum agreements for LNG carrier construction with Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding and three major South Korean shipbuilders, reserving up to 151 LNG carrier delivery berths. In 2022, a total of 60 174,000 cbm LNG carrier orders under the first phase of the "100-ship plan" became effective. The three major South Korean shipbuilders secured a total of 48 vessels, including 17 from HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, 18 from Samsung Heavy Industries, and 13 from Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering), in addition to 12 from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding.

Last October, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering secured the first batch of 17 174,000 cbm LNG carrier orders for the second phase of the "100-ship plan." In February this year, Samsung Heavy Industries received orders for 15 174,000 cbm LNG carriers. In March, Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering) also officially signed orders for 12 174,000 cbm LNG carriers, marking the full realization of all 44 LNG carrier orders for the second phase of the "100-ship plan" with South Korean shipbuilders.

       In addition to the recently chartered 19 new vessels, the remaining 25 vessels out of the 44 South Korean orders in the second phase of Qatar's "100-ship plan" will be wholly owned by Qatar's LNG carrier operator Nakilat, including all 17 from Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and another 8 from Hanwha Ocean.

Furthermore, beyond the 104 174,000 cbm conventional vessel types, QatarEnergy will also order up to 18 of the world's largest 271,000 cbm Q-Max type LNG carriers from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding. The unit cost per vessel will be as high as 305-310 million USD, with the total transaction value reaching 5.58 billion USD (approximately 40.341 billion RMB), setting a new record for LNG carrier orders received by the Chinese shipbuilding industry.

Qatar is very optimistic about the prospects for LNG demand in the coming decades. In February this year, QatarEnergy announced a new expansion project for the North Field – North Field West – planning to increase Qatar's LNG production capacity by nearly 85% by the end of 2030, thereby increasing production from 77 million tons per annum to 142 million tons per annum.

Currently, QatarEnergy has signed supply agreements with several multinational companies, including TotalEnergies, Shell, Eni (Italian oil company), Sinopec, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips.