SHANGHAI, Nov 8 (SMM) – Qatar said on Sunday that it has ordered six liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships from South Korea. Qatar is advancing a multi-billion dollar project to increase the output of LNG.

Qatar, the world's largest LNG exporter, will purchase four LNG ships from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and two ships from Samsung Heavy Industries. This is the first batch of orders for the $19 billion agreement signed by Qatar and South Korean shipbuilders last year. Daewoo, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung have been selected to build more than 100 LNG ships for Qatar by 2027. It is estimated that Qatar will spend about $30 billion to increase LNG output by 50% by 2027. In October of this year, Qatar also ordered four LNG tankers worthy of more than $760 million from China to expand its fleet. LNG is regarded as an important alternative to fuels with higher carbon emissions such as oil and coal. At the same time, the prices of LNG in Europe and Japan has soared in recent months. Qatar Energy predicts that natural gas demand will continue to grow until 2050, which also highlights the importance of its investment. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that global natural gas demand will peak in the mid-2020s as consumers gradually abandon fossil fuels.