State-owned QatarEnergy and Taiwan’s CPC signed a 27-year sale and purchase deal for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar’s North Field East (NFE) expansion project. CPC will also take a stake in the NFE project.
The new SPA includes the delivery of four million tons per annum of LNG from the NFE project to CPC, according to a statement by QatarEnergy.
The two sides also signed a share sale and purchase agreement pursuant to which QatarEnergy will transfer to CPC a 5 percent interest in the equivalent of one NFE train with a capacity of eight mtpa.
This transfer will see CPC become a partner in the NFE project without affecting the participating interests of any of the other shareholders in the project, QatarEnergy said.
Back in July 2021, QatarEnergy, previously known as Qatar Petroleum, entered into a 15-year deal to supply LNG to CPC.
This deal started in 2022 and QatarEnergy is delivering 1.25 mtpa of LNG to CPC’s receiving LNG terminals.
The two firms have been cooperating for over three decades, and QatarEnergy started LNG deliveries to CPC in 2006.
Huge LNG expansion
The NFE project is part of the overall North Field LNG expansion program that also includes the North Field South and North Field West projects, which together will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from the current 77 mtpa to 142 mtpa in 2030.
In February, QatarEnergy announced the North Field West project which will add 16 mtpa of LNG to the overall expansion of the North Field.
The first two projects include six mega trains, each with a production capacity of 8 mtpa of LNG, four of which are part of the North Field East expansion project, and two are part of the North Field South expansion project.
QatarEnergy officially started construction on its North Field expansion project in the giant Ras Laffan complex in October last year.
QatarEnergy LNG, previously known as Qatargas, currently operates 14 LNG production trains with a capacity of about 77 mtpa in Ras Laffan.
QatarEnergy’s partners in the expansion project are Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Eni, Sinopec, and CNPC.
Technip and Chiyoda won the EPC award for the North Field East project, while QatarEnergy awarded the contract for the North Field South project to a joint venture of Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company.
This year, QatarEnergy signed LNG supply deals with India’s Petronet LNG and US FSRU player Excelerate Energy.
Prior to these deals, QatarEnergy signed huge contracts in 2023.
These large deals include 27-year SPAs with Sinopec, Eni, Shell, and TotalEnergies.