A long-standing Japanese-Chinese joint venture is being named as the hot favourite to scoop ownership of six supersize LNG carrier newbuildings booked last month by QatarEnergy.
Newbuilding sources said Mitsui OSK Lines, working in tandem with Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation (CSET), are the likely partners for the business.
The 271,000-cbm vessels were contracted at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding by Qatari LNG producer QatarEnergy in September as add-ons to Phase 2 of its mammoth, 128-ship newbuilding project, which is worth nearly $32bn.
They are due for delivery between 2028 and 2031.
At the time, QatarEnergy confirmed the orders but did not name any shipowning party in connection with the six vessels.
The QC-Max — which stands for Qatar China-Max — is a new size of LNG carrier and costs around $333m.
These latest six vessels bring the order haul of QC-Max newbuildings to 24 in total.
Of the 18 already awarded, Qatar-based Nakilat has won nine, China Merchants Energy Shipping four, Shandong Marine Energy three and China LNG Shipping (Holdings) two.
MOL and CSET won long-term contracts from QatarEnergy to back seven 175,000-cbm LNG carrier newbuildings at Hudong-Zhonghua under Phase 1 of the project. These were concluded in 2022 and the pairing became the first owners to be awarded charter deals.
The first pair — the Rex Tillerson and Umm Ghuwailina — were delivered in September. Two more are due to follow in 2025.
Separately, QatarEnergy has been in talks with South Korean yards in an enquiry for an additional 20 vessels, some of which could include yet more QC-Max tonnage. But those following the process closely said the producer looks set to take a break from ordering for the rest of this year.
LNG carrier ordering has fallen quiet this month after another active year in which more than 80 vessels of all sizes were contracted in the first nine months.
Market players pointed to high shipyard prices, forward delivery dates, the exceptionally weak market and low near-term demand signals.
