Weather inshore until 6pm on Wednesday will be hot daytime with scattered clouds to partly cloudy at times, with a chance of scattered rain maybe thundery at first and slight dust to blowing dust at places at times, the Department of Meteorology said in its daily weather report, warning of expected thundery rain till noon and strong wind at most areas by evening.Offshore, it will be cloudy with a chance of scattered rain maybe thundery till noon, becomes scattered clouds later, the report added, warning of expected thundery rain at places till noon and strong wind and high sea by afternoon.Wind inshore will be northwesterly 10 - 20 KT, gusting to 32 KT at times.Offshore, it will be northwesterly - northeasterly 8 - 18 KT, gusting to 28 KT by afternoon.Visibility inshore will be 5 - 10 km / 3 km or less at times. Offshore, it will be 4 - 8 km / 3 km or less with thundery rain.Sea state inshore will be 1 - 3 ft, rises to 4 ft by afternoon. Offshore, it will be 2 - 5 ft, rises to 9 ft by afternoon.

Weather inshore until 6pm on Thursday will see scattered clouds with a chance of thundery rain at southern areas at first, relatively hot daytime with slight dust to blowing dust at places, the Department of Meteorology said in its daily weather report, warning of expected thundery rain at southern areas at first/ strong wind and poor horizontal visibility expected at places.Offshore, it will be partly cloudy with a chance of scattered rain at places, becomes some clouds later, the report added, warning of strong wind and high sea.Wind inshore will be northwesterly - northerly 15 - 25 KT, gusting to 35 KT at times at places.Offshore, it will be northwesterly - northerly 18 - 28 KT, gusting to 35 KT.Visibility inshore will be 4 - 9 km / 2 km or less at places at times. Offshore will be 4 - 9 km.Sea state inshore will be 3 - 5 ft. Offshore, it will be 5 - 9 ft, rises to 12 ft.

Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited (Nakilat) announced Wednesday the signing of a long-term agreement to charter and operate nine QC-Max class LNG vessels, as part of QatarEnergy's program to expand its fleet of LNG carriers.The agreement was signed by HE Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy Eng. Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi and CEO of Nakilat Abdullah Al Sulaiti in the presence of senior officials from both companies.Marking the occasion, HE the Minister of State for Energy Affairs said: "We are very proud to have Qatar's flagship LNG shipping and maritime champion join a list of world-class shipowners to operate our state-of-the-art QC-Max LNG vessels - the largest ever built. There is no doubt that this is another testament to Nakilat's significant capabilities." His Excellency added that by signing the largest shipbuilding order in the history of this industry in March, QatarEnergy is moving forward with its historic program to expand its fleet of LNG vessels, and is fully confident that Nakilat and the shipowner companies that have been selected will ensure that the fleet is operated in accordance with the highest safety, environment, operational excellence and the, most advanced standards.This signing follows QatarEnergy's recent agreements with Nakilat for the ownership and operation of 25 conventional-size LNG vessels. The agreement also comes a few days after signing similar agreements in Beijing with three Chinese shipowner companies to operate nine advanced QC-Max LNG vessels as part of its program to expand the LNG fleet, which will support Qatar's future energy needs while increasing its production capacity from LNG from the North Field to 142 million tons per year by 2030.These nine (QC-Max) vessels, each with a capacity of 271,000 cubic meters, represent half of the advanced QC-MAX tankers being built at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in China. QatarEnergy's program to expand its fleet of LNG vessels included the implementation of contracts to build and operate 104 conventional-sized vessels and 18 QC-Max vessels, bringing the total to 122 advanced vessels, the first of which is expected to be delivered by the end of the third quarter of 2024.