LNG

QatarEnergy, the leading global LNG producer and with three growth projects being developed has signed time-charter party (TCP) agreements with Qatar Gas Transport Co. (Nakilat) for the operation of 25 conventional-size LNG vessels as part of the second shipowner tender under Qatar’s LNG fleet expansion programme.

The agreements were signed in Doha by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and Chief Executive of QatarEnergy and Abdullah Al-Sulaiti, the CEO of Nakilat.

A statement said that 17 of the 25 LNG vessels are being constructed at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in South Korea, while the remaining eight are being constructed at Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, also in South Korea.

“These agreements firm up last month’s selection of Nakilat as the owner and operator of up to 25 conventional-size LNG carriers, underscoring our continued confidence in Qatar’s flagship LNG shipping and maritime company,” said Al-Kaabi.

“This is a testament to Nakilat’s world-class capabilities as well as to the significant contributions of Qatari listed companies to our country’s national economy,” he explained.

“The agreements we signed today play an important role in implementing QatarEnergy’s historic LNG shipping programme, which will cater for our future requirements, as we move forward with the expansion of our LNG production capacity to 142 million tonnes per annum by 2030,” Al-Kaabi stated.

Each of the 25 vessels will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres and will be chartered out by Nakilat to affiliates of QatarEnergy pursuant to the 15-year TCP agreements.

Liquefaction surge

Qatar announced at the end of February 2024 that it was going ahead with a third huge expansion called the North Field West (NFW) project to take overall output to 142 MTPA by the end of the decade.

The NFW joint venture will add to production expansions already under way with the North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) LNG projects.

The current NFE ramp-up of QatarEnergy’s liquefaction capacity will take production from 77 MTPA to 110 MTPA by 2027.

The second phase, called the NFS venture, will further increase the LNG output capacity from 110 MTPA to 126 MTPA.

The new NFW project will be developed to take production to 142 MTPA.

Overall the three expansions will put into production a total of eight LNG mega-Trains, each with nameplate capacity of around 8 MTPA and total additional nameplate capacity of just over 64 MTPA.

QatarEnergy, the leading LNG exporter and developer of major new liquefaction projects, has celebrated the graduation of a new group of Qatari nationals who have successfully completed their academic studies and training programmes to join the workforces of QatarEnergy and other companies established in the expanding sector.

QatarEnergy selected ConocoPhillips as its third and final international partner in the North Field South (NFS) expansion project comprising two LNG mega-Trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tonnes per annum and said free markets in energy were the best ways forward.

McDermott, the US LNG project engineering and oil and gas developer, has been awarded three prestigious contracts by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) covering four oil and natural gas fields in the Arabian Gulf.

Qatar Petroleum's North Field South (NFS) project has given the front-end engineering and design work to US engineering firm McDermott International.

Qatar Petroleum is finalizing plans to reserve berths for orders of at least 60 LNG carriers from Asian shipyards to give the sector a boost as nations emerge over the next two months from the economic disruptions of the coronavirus.

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.

Qatar Petroleum has awarded the front-end engineering and design contract for the North Field expansion project's offshore pipelines and topsides facilities to liquefy and export an additional 33 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

Qatar Petroleum has issued an invitation to tender for the reservation of ship construction capacity mainly in South Korea for an initial 60 new LNG carriers to transport its volumes from the expansion of its Ras Laffan liquefaction plant in Middle East and its Golden Pass facility in the US Gulf Coast.

Qatar Petroleum has issued tender invitations for the engineering, procurement and construction of the four liquefied natural gas expansion mega-Trains planned for Ras Laffan as part of the project to liquefy and export an additional 31 million tonnes per annum of LNG.