CNOOC, the Hong-Kong listed unit of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, has expressed interest in taking part in Qatar Petroleum’s giant LNG expansion project.
The firm’s finance chief Xie Weizhi revealed this during CNOOC’s first-quarter online performance briefing on Thursday, according to Nikkei Asia.
He said the company was “definitely interested” in the $28.75 billion LNG expansion project, the report said.
Qatar Petroleum said in February it had taken a final investment decision on the 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 phase will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 mtpa but QP has plans for the second phase as well as additional expansions.
CNOOC is one of the firms that have already expressed interest to take part in the LNG expansion.
Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said in February the Italian firm had already held talks with QP regarding the expansion.
In addition, France’s Total has showed interest to take part in the giant LNG project.
Total is also one of the partners in the Qatari joint venture that operates the first three LNG trains in Ras Laffan. However, QP recently said it plans to become the sole owner of the Qatargas 1 JV.
The state-owned LNG giant said it would not renew the QG1 JV agreements with Total, ExxonMobil, Marubeni and Mitsui.
The first three trains each have a capacity of 3.3 million tonnes per year. QP’s unit Qatargas will continue to operate QG1 facilities solo as of January 1, 2022.