State-owned QatarEnergy said it has selected ConocoPhillips as a partner in its giant LNG expansion project. The US energy giant is the third partner to join the $28.75 billion North Field East (NFE) expansion project after France’s TotalEnergies and Italy’s Eni.
Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, signed the partnership agreement for the creation of the new joint venture company during an official ceremony on Monday, according to a statement by QatarEnergy.
QatarEnergy will hold a 75 percent interest while ConocoPhillips will hold the remaining 25 percent interest in the JV.
The JV will own 12.5 percent of the entire NFE project, which has a total LNG capacity of 32 million tons per annum, QatarEnergy said.
QatarEnergy to reveal more partners
QatarEnergy said in the statement that “more partners are slated to join the NFE project, and the relevant announcements will be made soon.”
Besides these three firms, several media reports previously said that other partners include Shell and ExxonMobil.
Reuters also recently reported that China’s CNPC and Sinopec were in talks to take a part in the giant development as well.
In February last year, QatarEnergy took a final investment decision on the $28.75 billion NFE project.
The state-owned firm is developing a second phase to further boost capacity to 126 Mtpa by 2027 as well as additional expansions.
QatarEnergy and its unit Qatargas are also working on a giant fleet of LNG carriers to support this expansion and the firms already completed the first contracts in China and South Korea, with many more to come.
