Gas giant Qatar will spend $15 billion in the next five years to add 70 vessels to its fleet of tankers to export more liquefied natural gas (LNG), Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said on Wednesday. The tiny Middle East state, home to the world's third-largest gas reserves after Russia and Iran, aims to export 77 million tonnes of the super-cooled and compressed gas by 2012. "Qatar is well committed and overbooked by 2012 in terms of LNG contracts," Attiyah told reporters in Seoul. "We will build more new LNG ships, about 70, between now and 2010 and the cost will be about $15 billion."
Attiyah, who visited shipyards in the southern city of Pusan at the start of the week, is on a nine-day tour of Japan and South Korea, both heavily dependent on oil and gas imports.
Attiyah met officials of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, the world's top shipbuilder, and visited shipyards of second-ranked Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co and Samsung Heavy Industries.
Of the 70 new ships, Qatar would issue tenders for 12 tankers this year, each costing some $200-$220 million, he said.
"This is a big business for Korea and we'll keep Korean shipyards busy," Attiyah said, adding he hoped companies in South Korea - which holds 72 percent of the world's LNG tanker market - could win a significant share of the orders if the right prices and capacity were met.
Three shipbuilders in South Korea had already won orders to build a combined eight new LNG tankers from Qatar due for delivery by 2007 through earlier deals, he said.
"By 2010, we'll operate almost 90 ships including existing ones, the biggest fleet in the world coming from one port," he added.
Rising demand for LNG, driven by China and India, as well as falling gas output in the United States and Europe, is a boon to the shipbuilding sector in South Korea.
Qatar is moving closer to its target of becoming the top LNG exporter by the end of the decade following a string of supply deals this year worth more than $10 billion. Indonesia is the biggest supplier of LNG with exports of 25 million tonnes last year.
Attiyah said the outlook was bright for sales of Qatari LNG into Asia.
"China and India will play a big role in the LNG market, and will capture a lot of (LNG) production," he said, adding that India alone would need more than 20 million tonnes down the road.
India's Petronet LNG has an agreement with Qatar's Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co Ltd (Rasgas) to import 7.5 million tonnes per year and is seeking more supplies.
"If they (India) ask for more LNG, we'll discuss how to increase the supply," he said.
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