Qatar orders world’s 18 largest LNG carriers in $6 billion deal with China’s CSSC

Qatar Energy and China State Shipbuilding Corporation are announcing an order for 18 of the world’s largest LNG carriers as the next phase in their relationship and support for the expansion of Qatar’s LNG operations. With the order valued at nearly $6 billion, it is being cited as possibly the largest single LNG order and one of the largest ever in the industry.

The new ships will be part of an expanded LNG carrier of the QC-MAX size, with a capacity of 271 thousand cubic meters in five tanks. The current Q-Max vessels operating to Qatar have a capacity of between 263,000 and 266,000 cubic meters of LNG. Qatar recently highlighted that the majority of shipbuilding orders, which reached a total of 104 ships, are of conventional size with a capacity of 174 thousand cubic meters. Qatar Energy also called the program the largest shipbuilding and leasing program in the industry’s history.

The order expands on previous reports from January 2024 that Qatar was building eight of QC-Max class ships in China. The order signed today calls for the first eight ships to be delivered in 2028 and 2029. The other 10 ships added to the order will be delivered in 2030 and 2031. All of them will be built by the Chinese shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua. They also highlighted that the shipyard is already building 12 conventional-sized LNG carriers with the first of the vessels scheduled for delivery to Qatar in the third quarter of this year.

Each of the vessels will measure 1,128 feet (344 meters) with a design draft of just over 39 feet (12 meters). The CSSC previously highlighted that these dimensions mean that ships will still be able to dock at 70% of the world’s LNG terminals.

They will use low-speed dual-fuel engines and highlight a series of technological features. Although they increase load capacity by 57 percent. The design is optimized with a double skeg line and a lower evaporation rate, which means that the energy consumption of ships to transport cargo per ton per nautical mile is 9.9% lower than that of conventional ships. They are also employing technology with a real-time sway monitoring system and a stress monitoring system in the hull configuration. CSSC claims the carbon intensity index (CII) will be 23 times lower than conventional LNG carriers.

The countries highlighted that Qatar Energy is already a major supplier of LNG, crude oil and other products to China. In 2023, Qatar shipped 17 million tons of LNG to China. Sinopec. The Chinese energy company last year acquired a small stake (less than 2%) in two sections of Qatar’s North Field Expansion.

Qatar Energy has also moved to expand relationships with other major companies, including Total, Shell, Eni and Petronet, ahead of the launch of the North Field Expansion. Qatar, which has been competing with the United States to be the largest LNG exporter, says it will expand production by 85 percent by 2030, to a total of 142 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). Earlier this year, Qatar Energy announced new expansion plans for the North Field, saying it holds 10% of the world’s LNG reserves.