Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, May 30 -- Qatar Gas Transport Co. (Nakilat) has ordered six, 265,000 cu m LNG carriers from South Korean firms Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine and Samsung Heavy Industries. Each yard will build three vessels.
Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. will lease the carriers to transport LNG from the Qatargas II project to Europe and the US.
Qatargas II, a joint venture of Qatar Petroleum (70%) and ExxonMobil Corp. (30%), comprises Trains 4 and 5, each with a planned production capacity of 7.8 million tonnes/year. Train 4 is scheduled to start production in 2008 and Train 5 in 2009.
Nakilat, which has received four carriers over the past 2 years, intends to invest $16 billion to have a fleet of 61 carriers by 2010.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].