State-owned LNG giant QatarEnergy and France’s TotalEnergies signed two long-term LNG sale and purchase deals for the supply of up to 3.5 million tons per annum of LNG.
Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, signed the SPAs during a ceremony in Doha, according to a statement by QatarEnergy issued on Wednesday.
Under the SPAs, LNG will be delivered ex-ship to the Fos Cavaou LNG receiving terminal in southern France, with deliveries expected to start in 2026 for a term of 27 years, QatarEnergy said.
The LNG volumes will be sourced from the two joint ventures between QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies that hold interests in Qatar’s North Field East (NFE) and North field South (NFS) projects.
TotalEnergies’ partnership in the North Field LNG expansion projects is made up of a 6.25 percent share in the NFE project and a 9.375 percent share in the NFS project.
Together, NFE and NFS form the wider North Field expansion project to increase LNG production from the North Field, adding 48 mtpa to Qatar’s export capacity and bringing it to 126 mtpa.
France’s energy security
“These two new agreements we have signed with our partner TotalEnergies, demonstrate our continued commitment to the European markets in general, and to the French market in particular, thus contributing to France’s energy security,” Al-Kaabi said.
He said that Qatar had been supplying the French market with LNG since 2009.
“Our commitment to ensure continued and reliable supplies of energy to Europe and the rest of the world is underpinned by our substantial and ongoing investments across the entire gas value chain,” Al-Kaabi said.
“Our efforts span from bolstering production capacity in Qatar to the development of the Golden Pass LNG export project in the United States, in addition to our commitments in various LNG receiving terminals in Europe, including the Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminal in France,” Al-Kaabi added.
More LNG supply deals
QatarEnergy recently officially started building its North Field expansion project.
Pouyanne and the CEOs and senior executives of QatarEnergy’s other partners in the expansion project attended the event.
Besides TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy’s partners in the project are Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Eni, Sinopec, and CNPC.
Prior to this deal, QatarEnergy signed huge LNG supply deals with China’s CNPC and Sinopec.
These deals are for 27 years and 4 mtpa of LNG.
QatarEnergy also signed a 15-year deal to supply LNG to Bangladesh’s state-owned Petrobangla, and it signed a 15-year deal with US energy firm ConocoPhillips to supply Germany with LNG.
The firm is expected to announce additional LNG supply deals by the end of this year.