Three South Korean shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, along with China’s Hudong-Zhounghua Shipbuilding, are competing for a mega order from Qatar Gas, a subsidiary of Qatar National Petroleum Company, for 80 large LNG tankers.
Qatar, the world’s leading LNG producer, is expected to order 40 of the ships for delivery between 2023 and 2027 with another 40 to be held on option. South Korean shipbuilders have supplied Qatar with more than 50 large LNG carriers over the past fifteen years while Chinese yards are just entering the LNG carrier sector.
