Qatargas names its first two Q-flex ships

The ceremony which was presided over by His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy and Industry and Mr. Neil Duffin, President of ExxonMobil Development Co. officially named the two ships which are the first of 45 large LNG ships to be delivered for Qatar.

HE Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah said; "Qatargas and ExxonMobil pioneered the development of this new class of LNG carrier, making it possible for liquefied natural gas from Qatar to be shipped to all corners of the world. Today we see the results of this pioneering vision and the hard work of many people to deliver these ships to us safely and on time."

Mr. Faisal Al Suwaidi, Chief Executive Officer of Qatargas Operating Company said: "We are delighted to be here today to celebrate the naming of our first two Q-Flex vessels. It is a tribute to Qatar's vision and the hard work of many people. I would like to thank the team at DSME, our project team and partners for their commitment to helping us deliver energy to the world."

The Al Ruwais and Al Safliya will be used to ship LNG produced in Qatargas 2, Train 4 to customers in Europe. They are the first of 14 ships that are being built in Korea to service Qatargas Trains 4 and 5. The Q-Flex vessels have a capacity approximately 50% larger than conventional vessels.

The Q-Flex and the even larger Q-Max are a new generation of LNG mega-ship with about 40% lower energy requirements and carbon emissions than conventional vessels due to the economies of scale created by their size the efficiency of the engines.

Qatargas will charter the ships from Nakilat, with the ships being owned by a consortium of Nakilat, Pronav and German investment companies.

Qatargas 2's shareholders are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Total.