China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and Qatar Petroleum have officially signed a US $2.86bn contract for the construction of LNG carriers at CSSC Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in China. It is the largest export LNG carrier construction contract a Chinese shipyard has ever received.

CSSC Chairman Lei Fanpei, Saad Sherida AI-Kaabi, president and CEO of Qatar Petroleum and the Minister of State for Energy Affairs signed the contract online on behalf of two parties.

Supporting the increasing LNG production capacity

Qatar Petroleum, the world’s largest LNG producer, launched the tender for LNG carrier construction last year, which is expected to deliver 60 LNG carriers initially to support its increasing LNG production capacity, with a potential expansion to construct 100 new LNG carriers. According to Saad Sherida AI-Kaabi, Hudong-Zhonghua is doing well in LNG carrier construction. “We are confident that Hudong-Zhonghua will greatly support our LNG carrier expansion demand,” he said.

Lei Fanpei said that the implementation of Qatar Petroleum’s LNG carrier construction plan will inject vitality into global energy industry. “The cooperation will be able to stabilize global energy industry chain and make contribution to boost world economy,” added the chairman.

According to Hudong-Zhonghua Chairman, Chen Jianliang, Qatar’s nature gas project will invest up to US $10bn in new ship construction. “Hudong-Zhonghua showed its competence in LNG ship building market and won the first batch of Qatar Petroleum’s newbuidling contract,” he said. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding is one of the major shipbuilding enterprises under the flag of CSSC and was the first shipyard in China to build LNG carriers.