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QatarEnergy has awarded a $6 billion contract to China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) to build 18 of the largest LNG vessels ever made as part of the state-owned company’s fleet expansion programme.

Each “ultra-modern” QC-Max vessels will have a capacity of 271,000 cubic metres and will be constructed at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CSSC, one of the world’s largest LNG exporters.

“The agreement we signed today is the industry’s largest single shipbuilding contract ever,” said QatarEnergy CEO Saad Al-Kaabi.

Eight of the 18 QC-Max size LNG vessels will be delivered in 2028 and 2029, while the remaining 10 will be delivered in 2030 and 2031.

Al-Kaabi said that 12 conventional-size LNG vessels are currently under construction at Hudong-Zhonghua, with delivery of the first vessel expected by the third quarter of this year.

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• QatarEnergy signs long-term LNG deal with CNPC

Last month QatarEnergy signed time charter party agreements for 104 conventional-size vessels (174,000 cubic metres), the “largest shipbuilding and leasing programme ever in the history of the industry.”

China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) last year acquired a five percent stake in the equivalent of one North Field East LNG train with a capacity of eight million tonnes per year.

Source: Trade Finance