Middle East producer QatarEnergy has moved on to the second of South Korea’s big three shipbuilders, confirming LNG carrier newbuilding berths with Samsung Heavy Industries under its huge ship acquisition project.
Newbuilding sources told TradeWinds that QatarEnergy and its associates have declared at least six of 19 pre-reserved slots under phase two of its shipbuilding project across four yards.
More are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
QatarEnergy is understood to have moved onto SHI after announcing in September that it had confirmed a more-than-expected 17 berths with Hyundai Heavy Industries worth almost $4bn.
The deal on the vessels was inked with the yard last week, when South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Qatar along with another government minister.
But those watching the process said the 12 pre-reserved slots at Hanwha Ocean — previously Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering — may “take more time” to put in place following Hanwha Group’s takeover of DSME in May.
One source following the process closely said QatarEnergy could sign up over 50 LNG carrier berths in total under this second phase of its massive LNG carrier newbuilding programme.
Shipowners have to submit their commercial offers to QatarEnergy this month.
Under its schedule, QatarEnergy is due to select its preferred owners by the end of November. These will then be matched up with the declared berths.
The Qatari company has detailed that it plans to sign shipbuilding and charter contracts on the vessels during December.
Berths also in China
QatarEnergy is also believed to have at least four more berths reserved at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) in China.
Speculation is rife that these could be used to build the next generation of Q-Max LNG carriers of around 265,000 cbm, which QatarEnergy has asked shipbuilders to quote on.
Both Hudong-Zhonghua and more recently Hanwha Ocean have floated designs for Q-Max capacity LNG carriers.
The Doha-listed giant — which has dubbed its shipbuilding project as the largest of its kind in the history of the LNG industry — said in September that it confirmed orders with shipowners for 60 LNG carriers under a first phase, which wrapped up in 2022.
TradeWinds has previously detailed 66 LNG carriers confirmed in phase one. But it has since emerged that six of the vessel slots originally quoted have been passed to an associate of the Qatari company, possibly ExxonMobil.
QatarEnergy has not responded to requests for clarification on these.
The Qatari company has said the LNG newbuildings will support its expanding LNG production capacity from the North Field LNG expansion and the Golden Pass LNG export project in the US along with its fleet-replacement requirements.
On 3 October, QatarEnergy held a formal ceremony to kick off the start of its North Field expansion project that will add 48 million tonnes per annum of LNG to global supply in three years’ time.
The expansion will raise Qatar’s LNG production from 77 mtpa to 126 mtpa by 2026, with the addition of six mega-liquefaction trains of 8 mtpa each.
The project will also produce 6,500 tonnes per day of ethane, 200,000 barrels per day of LPG — propane and butane — and about 450,000 barrels per day of condensates, along with large quantities of helium gas and sulphur.
