Emirati oil giant ADNOC has ordered four LNG carriers from China for $900 million, ensuring it has the vessels needed when its liquefied natural gas output rises sharply following the launch of Ruwais LNG.

According to Emirati daily Al Bayan on Friday, July 10, the vessels will be built by Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai and delivered in 2029. They will be operated by ADNOC Logistics & Services, the group’s maritime transport subsidiary.

An LNG carrier is a ship designed to transport natural gas that has been cooled into liquid form. Liquefaction dramatically reduces the gas’s volume, allowing it to be shipped to countries that are not connected to the producer by pipeline.

The vessels are expected to be delivered shortly after Ruwais LNG begins operations in late 2028. Located west of Abu Dhabi, the new plant will be able to produce 9.6 million tonnes of LNG a year. It is expected to increase ADNOC’s LNG capacity in the UAE from around 6 million to 15 million tonnes annually.

The gas will first be processed and compressed at the inland Habshan complex. It will then be transported by pipeline to Ruwais, liquefied and loaded onto LNG carriers for export.

Abu Dhabi aims to sell more LNG to Europe, which has been replacing part of its Russian pipeline gas supplies since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and to Asia, where consumption is rising to meet growing demand from power generation and industry.

ADNOC has already secured buyers for nearly 90% of Ruwais’s future output under long-term agreements with European and Asian companies.

The group has not said whether the four new vessels will be used exclusively for Ruwais. Their delivery is nevertheless expected to coincide with the plant’s first years of production.