LNG

Qatargas has completed another LNG shipping feat with the first ever commercial ship-to-ship transfer of a cargo involving a Q-Flex LNG vessel at Subic Bay in Philippines.

A full cargo of 212,000 cubic metres aboard the Qatargas-chartered Q-Flex vessel “Mesaimeer’ was loaded at Ras Laffan Port on the 18th December 2020 and delivered as two separate parcel discharges.

One parcel was delivered as the ship-to-ship transfer in Subic Bay on the 6th of January 2021 and the second parcel as a delivery at the Jiangsu LNG terminal in China.

Qatargas said that both sales were made to PetroChina as the customer.

“We are delighted to announce this shipping breakthrough as it is for the first time that one of the largest LNG vessels, a Q-Flex, is involved in a commercial STS operation,” said Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Chief Executive of Qatargas.

“This achievement will enable us to transport considerable volumes as efficiently as possible into key markets,” added Al-Thani.

“Moreover, this will be an attractive option for our potential customers with limited shipping capacity and for those who are looking for smaller or irregular sized cargo parcels,” he explained.

Qatargas intends to continue to optimise its shipping capabilities by using the most efficient LNG vessels to shift volumes into key high-value markets.

“I would like to thank PetroChina, who are one of our long-term partners in the LNG industry, for their support and cooperation,” stated the Qatargas CEO.

The vessel “Mesaimeer” is on a long-term charter to Qatargas and is operated by Nakilat Shipping (Qatar) Limited.

Another landmark shipping feat to demonstrate the company’s customer-focused service was carried out in June 2019 by the 266,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Max carrier “Mekaines”.

It loaded a cargo at Ras Laffan in Qatar and delivered two cargo “parcels”, one to the Barcelona terminal in northeast Spain and a second to the Cartagena regasification facility in southeast Spain.

The Q-Max vessels are the largest class of LNG vessels in the world, allowing the Qataris to deliver two full conventional-sized cargoes on one vessel.

In the same year, the 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Safliyah” became the largest LNG carrier to transit the Panama Canal at the time when it sailed from the Pacific to the Atlantic side and then proceeded to the US export plant at Sabine Pass to break new ground in trading activities by lifting another cargo.

The “Al Safliyah” had left Ras Laffan in the Gulf with a cargo on April 5, 2019, and then unloaded the shipment at the Korea Gas Corp.-owned import terminal at Tong-Yeong in South Korea.

It then headed across the Pacific to complete the 80-kilometres Panama Canal passage to lift another cargo.

The successful transit of “Al Safliya” through the Canal created future triangulation Pacific-Atlantic opportunities for the Q-Flex fleet.

Qatar Petroleum has entered into an agreement worth more than $3 billion to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in China to be used for construction of additional ships for the Gulf nation’s LNG expansion plans.

The agreement was entered into between Qatar Petroleum and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC).

“Pursuant to the agreement, a significant portion of Hudong's LNG ship construction capacity will be reserved for Qatar Petroleum through the year 2027,” said a statement.

The Qataris had been expected to centre most of their carrier building in South Korea but have surprisingly chosen China over the Koreans for the first tranche of berth reservations.

The agreement on. berths was signed by Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and Chief Executive of Qatar Petroleum, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and the Chairman of CSSC Lei Fanpei, in a virtual ceremony.

“The value of this landmark agreement has the potential to be well in excess of 11 billion Qatari riyals ($3.02Bln), depending on our requirements and the extent of China's LNG shipbuilding capacity expansion,” stated Al-Kaabi.

This would suggest an initial booking to build at least 16 or up to 20 ships in China.

Also present at the transmitted event was Qatargas CEO Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Chairman of the Hudong shipyard Chen Jianliang, as well as other senior executives.

“We have taken yet another concrete step to reinforce Qatars commitment to its global reputation as a safe and reliable LNG producer at all times and under all circumstances,” said QP CEO Al-Kaabi.

“By entering into this agreement to reserve a major portion of Hudong's LNG ship construction capacity through the year 2027, we are confident that we are on the right track to ensuring that our future LNG fleet requirements will be met in due time to support our increasing LNG production capacity,” he added.

The South Korean shipbuilders Samsung Heavy Industries, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which has merged with Hyundai won all of the last round of Qatari newbuilds.

Between 2004 and 2007, Qatar ordered 45 LNG carriers from the Korean yards when Daewoo built 19 Qatari carriers, Samsung constructed 18 vessels and Hyundai received orders for eight ships.

Now the Qataris have first booked Chinese berths for the start of its shipbuilding programme, which could amount to at least 80 vessels, according to previous statements.

The global LNG fleet consisted of 601 vessels at the start of 2020, including medium-scale vessels of up to 50,000 cubic metres capacity,

A total of 44 newbuild vessels were delivered into the fleet in 2019 while 62 units were ordered versus 77 newbuilds in 2018, mostly from the Korean yards.

Qatar has start developing its drilling campaign for the Persian Gulf feed-gas from the North field that will underpin the feed-gas needs for the LNG expansion at Ras Laffan from 77 million tonnes per annum to 110 MTPA.

A second phase of the North Field LNG expansion, called the North Field South Project (NFS), will further increase Qatar's LNG production capacity from 110 MTPA to 126 MTPA.

The scope of the first phase of the expansion at the Ras Laffan production complex involves an additional four Trains, each with 8.0 MTPA of output.

Qatar is also expected to have partnerships with international energy majors for its expanded North Field-based projects.

Qatar has the southern portion of the North Field in Gulf waters and the other part is under the jurisdiction of neighbouring Iran.

Qatargas, the leading global liquefaction and LNG export company, has achieved a landmark 2,000th cargo delivery to India to help the Asian nation’s transformation to the use of cleaner fuel and to reduce pollution in cities such as Mumbai.

Qatar Petroleum said the fabrication has been completed of the first two steel tubular structures required for offshore facilities as part of its North Field Expansion (NFE) project to increase Qatari output in a first stage to 110 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the current 77 MTPA.

Qatargas, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas production company, has delivered the first cargo of LNG on a Q-Max vessel to the Belgian import and regasification terminal at Zeebrugge even though the facility has been operational for 32 years.

Qatargas, the leading liquefied natural gas producer, has signed an accord to cooperate in the LNG business with the main electric power generating company of Thailand, including being a future supplier of additional volumes to the Asian nation.


Qatari liquefied natural gas exports are now formally under the Qatargas banner of a single company as part of a merger between Qatargas and Rasgas announced by parent Qatar Petroleum at the end of 2016.