Qatar Launches Shipowner Tender for Massive Future LNG Carrier Fleet

Qatar Petroleum has invited ship owners to participate in a tender for the long-term time charter of up to 100 LNG carriers that the company will require for its planned North Field expansion project as well as its Golden Pass LNG export terminal in the United States.

Qatar Petroleum issued the ‘Invitation to Tender’ (ITT) to a large group of leading LNG ship owners for the chartering of vessels. The tender also includes options to replace time charters for a number of Qatar’s LNG carriers that will expire in the next few years.

The offshore North Field Expansion Project is expected raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million tons per year currently to 126 million tons per annum by 2027.

To meet the anticipated shipping demand, Qatar Petroleum has entered into agreements with Korean and Chinese shipyards to reserve space for the construction of up to 100 newbuild LNG carriers. Upon receiving responses to the tender, Qatar Petroleum says it will assess the bidders’ technical and commercial capabilities with the goal of assigning selected ship owners to the reserved shipyard construction slots.

“As we have previously announced, Qatar Petroleum entered into agreements with major Korean and Chinese shipyards to reserve LNG ship construction capacity for building as many as 100 new LNG carriers to cater for the needs of North Field Expansion Project as well as for Qatar Petroleum’s future LNG carrier fleet requirements, in what will be the largest LNG shipbuilding program in history. The release of this ITT package is a major milestone in our efforts towards securing the most qualified ship owners and operators for our future LNG carrier fleet,” said His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum.

Qatargas will manage ship-owner selection process on behalf of Qatar Petroleum.

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