Qatar Petroleum announced on 22 April that it has entered into an agreement with China’s state-owned Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group to reserve a “significant portion of Hudong’s LNG ship construction capacity” through to 2027. QP first announced an invitation to tender for 60 new tankers on 22 April 2019, adding that it may eventually increase to 100 tankers (MEES, 26 April 2019).
Qatar has embarked on a major project to increase its domestic LNG capacity from 77mn t/y to 126mn t/y. This target was initially slated for 2027, though a one-year delay to 2025 in expected first gas (MEES, 10 April) implies a similar delay to the overall timeline. QP’s 16mn t/y Golden Pass liquefaction JV with ExxonMobil is also due online in 2024. (CONTINUED - 211 WORDS)