South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean has officially started building Nakilat’s first of eight LNG carriers under the massive QatarEnergy shipbuilding program.
The shipbuilder held the steel cutting ceremony for the LNG carrier (Hull No. 2585) on February 19, according to Nakilat.
Last year, state-run LNG giant QatarEnergy signed time charter agreements with Nakilat for 25 conventional-size LNG carriers as part of the second phase of its massive shipbuilding program.
Each of the 25 vessels will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters and will be chartered out by Nakilat to affiliates of QatarEnergy pursuant to the 15-year TCP agreements.
Seventeen of the 25 LNG vessels are being constructed at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyards in South Korea, while the remaining eight are being constructed at Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
This order for eight LNG carriers at Hanwha Ocean is worth $1.84 billion.
Hanwha Ocean will deliver these vessels by January 2028.
In addition to these 174,000-cbm vessels, QatarEnergy also signed a time charter and operation agreement with Nakilat for nine 271,000-cbm LNG carriers.
The nine QC-Max vessels will be constructed at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua.
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.