QatarEnergy has opted for a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsui OS Lines (MOL) and China’s COSCO Shipping LNG Investment (Shanghai) (CSLNG) to own and operate six new QC-Max LNGCs.
The six vessels are to be built in China by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC). They form the last batch of the 128 LNGCs in QatarEnergy’s huge shipbuilding programme.
This shipbuilding programme included 104 conventional and 24 QC-Max size ultra-modern vessels.
The long-term timecharter (TCP) agreements were awarded to the shipowners during a special ceremony held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha.
At the ceremony, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of QatarEnergy, HE Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said: “This is the last batch of long-term shipowner contracts in our 128 vessel strong historic shipbuilding programme that will cater for QatarEnergy’s future LNG fleet requirements for our LNG expansion projects, as well as the replacement requirements of some of our existing fleet.”
He added: “We are proud to have forged very important partnerships and business relations with many companies and joint ventures, including today’s new partnership with MOL and COSCO Shipping.”
The joint venture had already signed long-term TCP agreements with QatarEnergy for seven conventional LNGCs in 2022, giving it a total of 13 long-term TCPs under the giant fleet expansion programme.
