SINGAPORE: Qatar Petroleum said on Saturday it has launched a tender to charter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for the future shipping needs of the company and its units, including for the recently announced expansion of its North Field project.

The tender will also cover requirements for shipping LNG from its joint venture Golden Pass LNG export project in the United States, and includes options to replace time charters for a number of its LNG tankers that will expire in the next few years, the company said in a statement.

Qatar Petroleum, the world's top LNG producer, last month announced it will boost LNG output by about 40% to 110 million tonnes a year by 2026, in the first phase of its expansion of North Field LNG, the largest single LNG project ever sanctioned.

It is expected to announce second-phase expansion plans this year, which will lift LNG capacity to 126 mtpa by 2027, and has been tying up sales contracts with several buyers in both the spot and long-term markets.

On receiving responses to the tender, Qatar Petroleum said that it will review the technical and commercial capabilities of the bidders, and aims to assign selected ship owners to the construction slots of shipyards, which were previously reserved in Chinese and South Korean shipyards.