Hyundai Heavy Industries has begun the construction of three new tankers which will add to Kuwait’s expanding oil and gas fleet.

State-owned Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) signed a KD65m ($213m) contract earlier this year with the South Korean shipbuilder for three tankers, each able to carry up to 84,200 cubic metres of liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

The first of the new vessels are due to be delivered by the end of 2019, state-run Kuna news agency reported.

The delivery will be among the first new ships as Kuwait plans to double its fleet size over the next twenty years. The expansion will take Kuwait’s total fleet to 60 vessels by 2040, up from 28 currently, to help KOTC’s parent company, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, continue to service its international customers.

KOTC operates 12 crude oil tankers, along with four LPG carriers, 10 for products and two bunkering vessels. Two more crude vessels are also due to be added by 2020, and another four by 2040, under the expansion plan.

The fleet expansion will support the OPEC member's ambitions to ramp up crude oil production, first hitting 4 million barrels a day (b/d) by 2020, up from around 3.2 million b/d currently. KPC has longer-term plans to reach 4.75 million b/d by 2040. Nearly $400 billion will need to be spent to reach the target.

At the same time, KPC wants to significantly build out its downstream sector, with a planned capacity of 2 million b/d by 2035, from 936,000 b/d currently.