Middle East producer QatarEnergy has boosted its Q-Max LNG carrier orders in China to 18 vessels, inking contracts on the berths with state-owned shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) in a deal worth close to $6bn under its huge shipbuilding drive and assigning shipowners to slots.

The Shanghai-based yard sealed the massive newbuilding project for 18 LNG carriers of 271,000-cbm, which will be built as the next generation of Q-Max vessels for Qatar.