QatarEnergy to build 6 giant gas carriers at China shipyard

QatarEnergy has signed a contract with the Chinese State Shipbuilding Corporation for the construction of six new gas carriers for the transportation of liquefied natural gas.
These vessels will belong to the QC-Max class and will increase the company’s total fleet to 128 vessels, including 24 QC-Max supertankers.
The construction of the vessels will be carried out at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, which is part of the CSSC. It is expected that the first tankers, each of which will have a cargo capacity of 271 thousand cubic meters, will be delivered in the period from 2028 to 2031. These gas carriers may become the largest in history.
Although the value of the contract was not disclosed, QatarEnergy previously reported that the company paid about $ 8 billion for the construction of 24 similar vessels.
This contract is part of the company’s strategy to expand its logistics infrastructure in connection with the development of the giant Severnoye gas field in the Persian Gulf, the Qatari part of the joint field with Iran. The commissioning of the next stage of the field expansion is scheduled for 2026.