Qatargas names its first vessel at Hyundai Heavy Industries yards

The ceremony which was presided over by Mr. Ahmed Al Khulaifi, Qatargas Chief Operating Officer - Commercial & Shipping and Mr Dennis Houston, Executive Vice President, ExxonMobil Refining and Sulpply Company. Mrs Cathia B. Houston, officially named the ship which is the third of 45 large LNG ships to be delivered for Qatar.

"Today is the first such ceremony in Hyundai Heavy Industries for Qatar's new fleet of LNG vessels and we are proud to be celebrating this achievement with OSG, HHI and all the people who have contributed so much to make this project a reality," said Mr Al-Khulaifi.

The Al Gattara will be used to ship LNG produced by Qatargas 2, Train 4 to customers in Europe. It is one of 14 ships that are being built in Korea to service Qatargas Trains 4 and 5.

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

The Al Gattara is owned through a joint venture between Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) and OSG, from which Qatargas will charter the vessel.

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