QatarEnergy has recently selected three shipowners to order eight LNG carriers in its LNG development project. The shipowners and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering are supposed to sign their contracts for the carriers this month.
In the first stage of the project, the three major Korean shipbuilders will build a total of 54 LGN carriers — 19 by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, 18 by Samsung Heavy Industries and 17 by Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering. The total value of these contracts is estimated at over US$11.58 billion.
The 54 LNG carriers have boosted the three shipbuilders’ order backlogs. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s goal for this year is US$8.9 billion, the company already reached 91.8 percent of it, and the rate of progress will exceed 100 percent once the eight carriers are ordered. The current order backlog of Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, whose goal for this year is US$17.44 billion, is US$19.97 billion. Samsung Heavy Industries recently reached 81.8 percent of US$8.8 billion.
A number of LNG carriers are expected to be ordered in the second stage of the project as well. In this project, Qatar is planning to increase its annual LNG output from 77 million tons to 110 million tons by 2025 and 126 million tons by 2027. A total of 150 new LNG carriers are expected to be needed regarding the output expansion.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
