Shell, TotalEnergies, and ExxonMobil are bidding to take a stake in Qatar Petroleum’s giant LNG expansion project, according to Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QP, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi.
Al-Kaabi said on Tuesday during a session at the Qatar Economic Forum, powered by Bloomberg, that Qatar Petroleum has received offers for double the equity available to potential partners in the bidding process for the North Field East project.
“Bids are double what we requested whether it’s sales and purchase agreements (SPA) or equity. So there is great interest,” he said.
Al-Kaabi discussed several topics with CEO’s of the three companies during the session, including the LNG expansion and carbon capture.
Besides these three giants, other companies such as Eni and CNOOC have also previously expressed interest to take part in the expansion project.
QP said in February it had taken a final investment decision on the $28.75 billion North Field East project. The development includes building four mega trains with a capacity of 8 million tonnes per year in the Ras Laffan complex.
This first phase of the expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 mtpa. QP expects to start production in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The state-owned firm also plans a second phase to further boost capacity to 126 mtpa by 2027 as well as additional expansions.
The company’s unit Qatargas already operates in total fourteen LNG trains at Ras Laffan.