Shipowners and yards are waiting to learn if Qatar Petroleum’s final investment decision (FID) on its $28.75bn North Field Expansion (NFE) project will reignite action on its huge LNG carrier newbuilding programme.
Shipbuilding sources said there had been some exchange of technical details in late 2020 but there have been no recent updates on a newbuilding schedule.
One source said yards have an expectation on the number of berths that might be firmed up this year. However, these amount to 10 vessels or fewer each, and guidance from the producer is still awaited.
Owners reported similar radio silence, although there was an indication last year that Qatar Petroleum was making a closer assessment of those companies with which it had not previously worked.
Berths reservations
Last year, Qatar Petroleum signed deeds of agreement reservations with South Korea’s big three shipbuilders — Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries — and China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group).
Including options, Qatar Petroleum locked away up to 151 slots for newbuildings priced at about $180m each that can deliver from 2023 through into 2026.
According to initial schedules, it planned to ink its first vessels with yards in late 2020. But these failed to materialise.
With the new NFE liquefaction plans being green-lighted this week and production scheduled to start in 2025, those working closely with the project said the shipping requirement for these volumes would now probably be progressed this year.
LNG landmark
The long-awaited sanction of NFE is a milestone for the world’s largest LNG producer and the wider sector, which recorded just one FID for a liquefaction project in Covid-hit 2020.
It also ranks as the largest LNG capacity to be sanctioned.
NFE will raise Qatar’s LNG production to 110 million tonnes per annum from 77 mtpa.
Aside from LNG, it will produce condensate, LPG, ethane, sulphur and helium, which may lead to other shipping requirements.
The FID was announced in conjunction with the signing of the project’s key onshore engineering, procurement and construction contract with Chiyoda and Technip.
The expansion will comprise four trains of 8m tonnes capacity each. It will also be built with several factors designed to reduce its environmental footprint, including a CO2 capture and sequestration scheme and a "jetty boil-off gas" recovery system.
In a planned second phase — the North Field South Project — Qatar plans to boost its LNG production to 126 mtpa from 2027 with two additional trains.
Energy minister Saad al-Kaabi, who is chief executive of Qatar Petroleum, said he is looking at further expansions beyond this.
