DUBAI- Qatar Petroleum has signed shipbuilding agreements with South Korea's "Big 3" shipyards to secure more than 100 ships at a cost of more than 70 billion Qatari riyals ($19.23 billion), it said in a statement on Monday.

The agreements signed with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering , Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industrieswill reserve a major portion of the three companies' LNG ship construction capacity for Qatar Petroleum through 2027.

($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals)

(Reporting by Yousef Saba, editing by Louise Heavens) ((Yousef.Saba@thomsonreuters.com; +971562166204))