Hanwha Ocean, formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), has started the construction of the first Qatar-bound LNG carrier for K3 Consortium comprising H-Line Shipping, Pan Ocean, and SK Shipping.
To mark the start of the construction, the shipbuilder held a steel-cutting ceremony for hull no. 2546 on 28 July, the Liberian Registry revealed in a brief social media update.
Data based on the hull number indicate that the 93,900 dwt vessel is scheduled for delivery at the end of 2024.
As disclosed, this is the first in a series of fifteen 174,000 cubic metre LNG carriers which will be built by Hanwha Ocean for the Korean consortium.
Back in June 2022, H-Line Shipping, Pan Ocean and SK Shipping placed a KRW 1.07 trillion ($851.7 million) order at Hanwha Ocean for the construction of four LNG carriers for the Qatar LNG project.
At the time, the consortium said the ships will be built at the Okpo Shipyard and delivered by the first quarter of 2025 for use in QatarEnergy’s North Field Expansion Project. The ships will also be equipped with a low-pressure dual-fuel propulsion engine (ME-GA) and re-liquefaction facility.
As part of this expansion project, in 2020, QatarEnergy signed an agreement with DSME, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to reserve LNG carrier construction capacity.
On 3 June 2023, QatarEnergy celebrated the steel cutting of the first of its new generation of chartered LNG carriers to be built at SHI.