Qatar Petroleum (QP) announced an invitation to tender on 22 April for 60 new LNG tankers. The state firm first announced its plans to order 60 new LNG tankers in January (MEES, 1 February), and now says this may eventually exceed 100. Its shipping subsidiary Nakilat already has 65 LNG tankers, and QP says this is the “largest ship building program in the history of the LNG industry.” The tankers are planned to address the additional shipping requirements from QP’s plan to expand LNG production capacity from 77mn t/y to 110mn t/y from 2024. They will also carry volumes from the Golden Pass joint venture (QP 70%op, ExxonMobil 30%) which will add 16mn t/y in the US from 2024 (MEES, 8 February).