GasMiddle East

Nakilat takes back management of LNG fleet from Shell

Qatar’s Nakilat is growing up as a shipowner. The giant gas operator has decided to let Shell go as a manager of its LNG fleet and take on the duties itself.

Shell has provided a range of shipping services to Nakilat’s LNG fleet since it was established in 2006. These included the shipmanagement of 14 Q-Max and 11 Q-Flex LNG carriers and the sharing of Shell’s Shipping & Maritime expertise.

The vessels will be transitioned in three phases starting this year and shall be managed by Nakilat’s in-house shipmanagement arm, which currently manages four large LPG carriers and four Q-Flex LNG carriers.

This will be the world’s largest transition of an LNG fleet operation. The 25 vessels have so far delivered over 320m cu m of Qatar’s LNG to over 20 countries and have travelled 17m nautical miles- the equivalent of over 780 trips around the equator’s circumference.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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