On April 29th, China Shipbuilding Corporation Limited and Qatar Energy held a signing ceremony for the project of 18 world's largest 271000 cubic meters ultra large liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport ships in Beijing. Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Shan Zhongde, Ambassador of the West Asia and North Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lv Jian, Chairman of China Shipbuilding Group Wen Gang and Deputy General Manager Sheng Jigang, State Minister of Energy Affairs and President and CEO of Qatar Energy Saad Sheridah Al Kabi, CEO of Qatar Energy and Natural Gas Khalid Al Seni, and Executive Vice President of Qatar Energy Business and Business Development Jasim Al Marazuzi attended the signing ceremony as leaders and guests.

Wen Gang stated in his speech that in recent years, Qatar Energy has vigorously implemented natural gas expansion plans and LNG ship construction plans, rapidly improving its natural gas production and export capabilities, and playing an important leading and driving role in the accelerated development of global clean energy. China Shipbuilding Group is a leading force in the global shipbuilding industry and a firm practitioner of the "the Belt and Road" cooperation initiative. After years of efforts, it has achieved the independent design and construction of large LNG ships, and its voice in the global shipbuilding market is growing. For many years, China Shipbuilding Group has established and maintained a good cooperative relationship with Qatar Energy, working together to promote the green and low-carbon transformation and development of the energy industry. This time, the two sides will once again join hands. China Shipbuilding Group will concentrate its advantageous resources, carefully organize production, strengthen scientific management, focus on creating high-quality and benchmark projects in the industry, ensure timely and high-quality delivery, provide strong support for Qatar's energy to accelerate production expansion, transformation and development, and create new models and contributions for economic cooperation between China and Qatar.

Saad Sheridah Al Kabi stated in his speech that Qatar Energy has signed a contract with China Shipbuilding Corporation to build 18 of the world's largest 271000 cubic meter LNG ships, setting a record for the highest single new ship order amount and making it a historic breakthrough. This batch of ships will support Qatar Energy to expand production capacity in the northern gas field and meet the long-term renewal needs of the fleet. I hope that Qatar Energy and China Shipbuilding Group can further deepen practical cooperation in the future and jointly contribute to the sustainable development of the industry.

The LNG ship in this signed project will be independently designed and built by Shanghai East China, a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Corporation. It has a total length of 344 meters, a width of 53.6 meters, a depth of 27.2 meters, and a designed draft of 12 meters. It will be propelled by a dual fuel low-speed engine and equipped with an NO96 Super+enclosure system. This type of ship has five major technical characteristics: in terms of cabin capacity, it adopts a 5-compartment scheme, with a compact scale, and a 57% increase in carrying capacity compared to a conventional 174000 cubic meter large LNG ship; In terms of performance, adopting a multi-objective optimized double stern fin line has excellent speed, lower evaporation rate, and a 9.9% reduction in energy consumption for transporting goods per ton of sea compared to 174000 cubic meters of LNG ships; In terms of safety, the liquid tank adopts an enhanced insulation module, equipped with a real-time sway monitoring system, a stress monitoring and collision prevention system for the hull, with multiple guarantees and high safety and reliability; In terms of maneuverability, it is equipped with a re liquefaction system and a reverse propulsion system, which is flexible in handling. The carbon intensity index (CII) is 23% lower than that of a 174000 cubic meter LNG ship, and it can flexibly match various operating ranges on different routes; In terms of compatibility, diversified optimization of draft and loading design covers major mainstream routes.

In 2020, Qatar Energy announced the highly anticipated "100 ship plan", which involves building over 100 large LNG ships to meet the transportation capacity required after its upstream capacity expansion. The successful acquisition of 18 of the world's largest 271000 cubic meters of LNG ships by China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) under the "100 Ships Plan" is an important manifestation of CSSC's increasing international influence in the construction of ultra large LNG ships. It marks the transition of China's LNG ship research and design and construction from large-scale to ultra large fields, and the advancement of high-end ship research and design capabilities to the world's leading goal.

It is understood that the 99 LNG ships in the "Hundred Ships Plan" all use the main engines authorized by China Shipbuilding Group's WinGD, which further demonstrates the continuous deepening of China Shipbuilding Group's LNG ship industry and supply chain construction, and also helps China Shipbuilding Group and Qatar's energy strategic partnership to a new level, promoting broader cooperation in the energy field between China and Qatar, and building a long-term and stable energy cooperation relationship.