Doha, October 18 (QNA) - Qatargas Operating Company Limited (Qatargas) has delivered a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo aboard a Q-Flex vessel to China's Beihai LNG Terminal, the first ever call by a Qatargas-chartered vessel at this terminal.

The Q-Flex vessel, Al Sahla, is the largest LNG carrier to call at the terminal since the start of its operations in 2016.

Al Sahla was loaded with 205,000 cubic metres of LNG on 14 September at Ras Laffan Port, and called at Beihai LNG Terminal, located in the Tieshan Port Industrial Zone in Beihai Zhuang Autonomous region, in the Guangxi Province of China, on 5 October. It became the largest LNG carrier to call the terminal which has capacity to also accommodate the even larger Q-Max LNG vessels carrying up to 266,000 cubic metres.

The cargo was delivered to China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) which is the largest oil and petrochemical products supplier and the second largest oil and gas producer in China. It is the largest refining company and the third largest chemical company in the world.

The terminal, which has nominal capacity of three million tonnes of LNG per annum (Mtpa), comprises of four storage tanks each, with an overall capacity of 640,000 cubic metres.

Qatargas, in collaboration with Sinopec and PipeChina Beihai LNG Terminal, has cleared vessels up to size of Q-Max (266,000 cubic metres). This facilitates customer to receive larger volumes along with additional flexibility to wider range of LNG receiving terminals.

Since the first LNG delivery in September 2009 to date, Qatar has supplied China with more than 85 million tonnes of LNG. China is a key and strategic energy partner for the State of Qatar throughout the entire energy value chain. It is also a main driver of the growth in the global LNG market as the government adopts increasingly progressive environmental policies.

(QNA)