QatarEnergy selects Shell as partner for $28.75 billion LNG expansion project

LNG giant Shell is the latest international firm to join QatarEnergy’s huge LNG expansion project, which will boost Qatar’s LNG export capacity by 32 million tons per annum.

Shell is the fifth partner to join the $28.75 billion North Field East (NFE) expansion project after France’s TotalEnergiesItaly’s Eni, and US firms ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil.

The company said on Tuesday it would hold a 25 percent share in a joint venture company which would own 25 percent of the North Field East expansion project, including the four mega LNG trains with a capacity of 32 Mtpa.

This means that Shell will have a 6.25 percent stake in the project, such as ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies, while Eni and ConocoPhillips will hold 3.12 percent each.

Shell said its investment in this LNG expansion would support delivery of much-needed supplies of natural gas to markets around the world.

The project will also feature carbon capture and sequestration to reduce emissions.

Landmark project

“I am honoured that Shell has been selected by QatarEnergy. Through its pioneering integration with carbon capture and storage, this landmark project will help provide LNG the world urgently needs with a lower carbon footprint,” Shell CEO, Ben van Beurden, said.

“This agreement deepens our strategic partnership with QatarEnergy which includes multiple international partnerships such as the world-class Pearl GTL asset,” he said.

In February last year, QatarEnergy took a final investment decision on the NFE project to boost Qatar’s annual LNG capacity from 77 million tons to 110 million tons.

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 more to come.

QatarEnergy selects Shell as partner for $28.75 billion LNG expansion project
Image: QatarEnergy

Partner selection concluded

QatarEnergy said in a separate statement that the firm has now concluded partner selection for its NFE expansion project.

“We value our long and fruitful relations and strategic partnership with Shell, not just within the State of Qatar, but in many other locations around the world,” Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said in the statement.

“And, as one of the largest players in the LNG business, they have a lot to bring to help meet global energy demand and security,” he said.

(Article updated with a statement by QatarEnergy.)

Most Popular

Yang Ming books LNG-powered containerships in South Korea

Taiwan’s Yang Ming Marine Transport has decided to order LNG dual-fuel container vessels from South Korea's Hanwha Ocean as part of its ongoing fleet optimization plan.

Sabah to take stake in Petronas’ third FLNG

SMJ Energy, owned by the Sabah government, has signed a heads of agreement with Malaysian energy giant Petronas to take a 25 percent stake in the latter's third floating LNG production unit.

Japan’s LNG imports drop in June

Japan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports dropped by 2.8 percent in June compared to the same month last year, according to provisional data released by the country’s Ministry of Finance.

More News Like This

South Korea gets first LNG Canada cargo

The 174,000-cbm GasLog Glasgow, which is carrying the first liquefied natural gas cargo produced at the Shell-led LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, has arrived in Tongyeong, South Korea, according to shipping data.

LNG Canada to send third cargo

Shell-led LNG Canada is expected to soon ship the third cargo of liquefied natural gas from the Kitimat facility, according to shipping data.

Victrol: LNG London hits bunkering milestone

The Shell-chartered inland bunkering vessel LNG London, owned by a joint venture of Belgium's Victrol and France's Sogestran, has reached a new operational milestone.

Monadelphous scores new LNG contracts

Australian engineering firm Monadelphous has secured contracts for Shell's Crux natural gas project offshore Western Australia and the Australia Pacific LNG project in Queensland.