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Nakilat reported a net profit of 857 million riyals ($235 million) for the January-June period, a drop of 0.4 percent compared to 860 million riyals in the same period last year.
The LNG shipping firm previously reported a net profit of 439 million riyals in the first quarter of 2026, a rise of 1.3 percent year-on-year.
This means that Nakilat’s net profit stood at 418 million riyals, down from 427 million riyals in the second quarter last year.
Nakilat said its first-half net profit was driven by overall higher performance on its shipping activities and reduced finance charges, and was partially offset by lower overall performance from the shipyard and marine activities.
On the other hand, Nakilat’s total income increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year to 2.39 billion riyals, primarily due to the consolidation of Qatar Shipyard Technology Solutions and LPG vessels revenues, not present in the comparative period, and higher revenues from wholly-owned LNG vessels.
Moreover, the company’s expenses increased by 8.3 percent, primarily driven by the consolidation of Qatar Shipyard Technology Solutions and LPG vessels expenses.
“In light of the current situation in the region and its impact on business performance, our marine services segment was significantly affected, with ship repair, shipping agency, and towage services experiencing a noticeable decline,” Abdullah Al Sulaiti, CEO of Nakilat, said.
“Despite these challenges, we continued to fulfill our strategic role in providing LNG shipping services to our customers and took decisive cost-control measures to maintain the stability of our core operations while ensuring the highest levels of fleet reliability. We remain steadfast in our commitment to serving our customers under all circumstances,” he said.
QatarEnergy
Nakilat’s fleet mainly ships LNG for state-owned LNG producer QatarEnergy.
Earlier this month, Nakilat said that no one was injured after its Q-Flex LNG carrier Al Rekayyat was hit by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The company did not provide an update regarding the incident in the first-half report.
QatarEnergy stopped producing LNG at its giant Ras Laffan complex on March 2 due to military attacks on its operating facilities. The LNG producer declared force majeure to its affected LNG buyers on March 4.
The LNG producer announced that it expects the damage to its Ras Laffan complex caused by missile strikes to cost about $20 billion a year in lost revenue and to take up to five years to repair, impacting supply to markets in Europe and Asia.
Newbuild program
Nakilat said it remains on track with its newbuild program, which includes LNG carriers and LPG/ammonia gas carriers under construction.
In March last year, Nakilat marked a milestone with two steel-cutting ceremonies for a total of ten of its new LNG carriers and four LPG/ammonia gas carriers at Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Samho shipyards in South Korea.
In addition, South Korean shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries officially started building in May Nakilat’s first of 17 LNG carriers as part of an order placed last year.
Nakilat’s fleet currently includes 24 conventional LNG carriers, 31 Q-Flex vessels (210,000-217,000 cbm), 14 Q-Max vessels (263,000-266,000 cbm), and one FSRU. This includes jointly-owned LNG carriers.
In January 2024, Nakilat placed orders worth about $955 million with HD Hyundai Samho to construct two LNG tankers and four LPG/ammonia carriers.
Moreover, Nakilat signed charter agreements in March 2024 with QatarEnergy for 25 conventional-size LNG carriers as part of the second phase of its massive shipbuilding program.
QatarEnergy also signed a time charter and operation agreement with Nakilat for nine 271,000-cbm LNG carriers.
Nakilat has 36 LNG carriers and four LPG/ammonia carriers on order.
The total vessel count in the company’s fleet will reach 114 once all the vessels are delivered, including 105 LNG carriers.
