DOHA, Oct 11 (AFP) - The gas-rich Gulf state of Qatar on Monday signed an
agreement for the long-term charter of four liquefied natural gas (LNG)
carriers to be built in a shipyard in South Korea.


"Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited II (RasGas II) has signed
Time Charter Agreements with Maran Gas Maritime for the long-term charter of
four LNG vessels to be built at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co
Ltd, Korea," a statement said without giving the value of the deal.
Maran Gas Maritime is the gas division of the Angelicoussis Greek maritime
group.
Under the terms of the agreement, RasGas II will be able to assume up to 30
percent equity ownership in each of the new LNG vessels, the statement said.
The ships will be delivered to RasGas between November 2005 and June 2008
and will have an LNG cargo capacity of 145,700 cubic meters (5.1 million cubic
feet).
RasGas will charter the vessels for a period of 20 years to deliver LNG
from Ras Laffan Industrial City to its customers, particularly in Europe, the
statement said.
RasGas is 63 percent owned by Qatar Petroleum, 25 percent by energy giant
ExxonMobile and the remainder by Japanese and South Korean companies.
With Monday's agreement, the company has now completed deals for the
acquisition of seven of eight LNG tankers ordered in July, which will increase
its long-term charter fleet to a total of 14 ships, the statement said.
Qatar's giant North Field has proven reserves of more than 900 trillion
cubic feet (25 trillion cubic metres) of gas, the third largest in the world.
That is more than 15 percent of the world's total proven gas reserves, and
enough to last the tiny Gulf state about 250 years.
Doha plans to boost annual LNG production to 60 million tonnes by 2010 from
the current 18 million.