QatarEnergy Picks MOL-COSCO JV to Operate Six QC-Max Size LNG Vessels
QatarEnergy has selected the joint venture of Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) and China’s COSCO Shipping LNG Investment (Shanghai) (CSLNG) to own and operate six QC-Max size LNG vessels.
The six vessels will be built in China by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
These vessels are the last batch of the 128 LNG vessels in QatarEnergy’s historic ship building program, made up of 104 conventional and 24 QC-Max size ultra-modern vessels.
MOL and CSSC will own and operate the vessels under a long-term Time Charter Party (TCP) agreements signed with QatarEnergy.
The MOL-CSLNG joint venture has already entered long-term TCP agreements with QatarEnergy for seven conventional LNG vessels, executed in 2022, giving the joint venture a total of 13 long-term TCPs under QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet expansion program.
“This is the last batch of long-term shipowner contracts in our 128-vessel strong historic shipbuilding program that will cater for QatarEnergy’s future LNG fleet requirements for our LNG expansion projects, as well as the replacement requirements of some of our existing fleet,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy.
