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QatarEnergy has inaugurated the “Rex Tillerson” liquified natural gas (LNG) vessel in the Chinese city of Shanghai, marking the first such ceremony of the Qatari company’s major shipbuilding programme.
Named after the 69th U.S. Secretary of State, the ship was constructed at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard as part of a 12-ship construction programme. This construction is the first batch of orders from China under QatarEnergy’s LNG shipbuilding initiative.
Tillerson had also served as the chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, with QatarEnergy dedicating the ship as a tribute to his accomplishments in the energy sector.
The inauguration ceremony on Tuesday in China saw the attendance of the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, Saad Al-Kaabi, and Jia Haiying, Member of the Party Leadership Group and Chief Financial Officer of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
The same event saw the naming of a second vessel, “Umm Ghuwailina”, also part of 12 vessels contracted with the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard. According to a press release by QatarEnergy, the delivery of both vessels will come ahead of their contracted delivery schedule.
“Mr. Tillerson’s legacy will always be remembered in Qatar and around the world, particularly for his wisdom, warmth, and sincerity, which drove one of the oldest Qatari relationships with international oil companies towards greater prosperity,” Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs, said.
Al-Kaabi added that the event was an embodiment of QatarEnergy’s “commitment to meet the world’s growing need for cleaner energy”.
Tillerson virtually spoke at the ceremony, where he praised Qatar’s developing LNG sector while looking back at his past work with the Gulf state.
“During my almost 42-year career with ExxonMobil Corporation, one of the highlights was working with Qatar to develop its LNG trade[…]Qatar has become the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas to the world,” he said.
He added: “I am deeply honoured to have this magnificent ship carry my name. I hope it will have many years of safe service delivering energy the world over.”
QatarEnergy to build 18 of largest ever LNG vessels in China under $6bn deal
In 2020, QatarEnergy (known as Qatar Petroleum at the time) launched the LNG shipbuilding programme, the largest in the industry with the construction capacity of up to 100 ships.
The ships would be used for future LNG requirements, including those for the North Field and the Golden Pass project.
On Monday, QatarEnergy signed an agreement with CSSC in China for the construction of six additional state-of-the-art QC-Max LNG vessels, bumping up the total ships ordered to 128.
The vessels are the largest of their kind with a capacity of 271,000 cubic metres each, with their delivery scheduled between 2028 and 2031.
This followed a $6bn deal signed in China in April for the construction of 18 QC-Max LNG vessels. Eight of the 18 vessels will be delivered in 2028 and 2029 whereas the remaining 10 will be delivered in 2030 and 2031.
The gas rich Gulf country is ramping up its local LNG production with its multi-billion North Field expansion project.
Initially split into two parts, the North Field East (NFE) and the North Field South (NFS) were set to ramp up the LNG production from 77 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) to 126 mtpa by 2026.
On February 25, QatarEnergy unveiled the North Field West, which would boost the local LNG production to 142 mtpa before the end of 2030. The output of the North Field will increase by 85 percent by 2025, boosting Qatar’s economy.
