South Korea Shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) has been awarded the contract for constructing four LNG carriers as Qatar Energy gears up for its North Field Expansion Project. The ships are to be delivered by the first quarter of 2025.
Each vessel is to have a capacity of 174,000 m3 and will be equipped with a dual fuel low-pressure propulsion engine. The ships will also have a liquefaction facility on board, allowing them to operate with lower emissions and make them more eco-friendly. These carriers are to be built at the Okpo Shipyard in Korea. The contract value for each ship is reported to be $214.47mn, with the total value amounting to $857.9mn.
The shipping order of 4 vessels is a prelude to what is to come. Qatar plans to boost its LNG producing capacity from 77 million metric tonnes per annum (mpta) to 126 mpta by 2027. The total estimated cost of this huge order is around $19 bn. DSME has received the first order from an “advance reservation agreement” signed in June 2020 between Qatar and three Korean Shipbuilders; DSME, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Heavy Industries. The agreement was for the shipbuilders to reserve their shipbuilding capacity as they would receive contracts to build more than 100 LNG vessels. They also revealed that extra orders would be awarded to other Korean Shipbuilders. There are also reports from Korean media of Qatar energy placing an order with Hyundai Heavy Industries. This is in addition to orders placed by Qatar with the Chinese Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group.
