LNG giant QatarEnergy said its trading unit would offtake and market 70 percent of the LNG supplies produced by the Golden Pass plant in the US as part of a new deal with ExxonMobil.
QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil are building the $10 billion Golden Pass LNG export terminal on the Gulf Coast near Sabine Pass, Texas, and plan to launch the facility in 2024.
Once complete, the giant facility, located next to the existing LNG import terminal in Sabine Pass, will have three trains and a total liquefaction capacity of more than 18 mtpa.
State-owned QatarEnergy owns a 70 percent stake in the project while US energy firm ExxonMobil has a 30 percent share.
QatarEnergy said in a statement on Wednesday that the two firms have agreed to independently offtake and market their respective proportionate equity shares of LNG produced by the plant.
Pursuant to the agreement, QatarEnergy Trading, a unit of QatarEnergy, would offtake, transport, and trade 70 percent of the LNG produced by Golden Pass LNG, it said.
As a result of this arrangement, Ocean LNG, a joint venture established in 2016 between affiliates of QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil for the purpose of offtaking and marketing the entire production of Golden Pass LNG, has ceased operations, and will be wound down.
“World leader in LNG trading”
“QatarEnergy is the global leader in LNG, the cleanest of all fossil fuels, and it is only natural for us to increase focus on LNG trading and portfolio optimization to deliver innovative LNG solutions that meet the needs of our customers across the globe,” Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said in the statement.
“I am proud of what QatarEnergy Trading has achieved in the very short time since its inception and with this new addition to its portfolio, I am confident that QatarEnergy Trading will accelerate its efforts to deliver on our aspiration of becoming a world leader in LNG trading in the near future,” Al-Kaabi said.
Reports previously said that some of these LNG supplies from Golden Pass could go to Germany and Europe as European countries look to replace Russian pipeline gas and boost energy security.
Besides Golden Pass, QatarEnergy is working on a huge expansion of its LNG production capacity in Ras Laffan, Qatar.
Together, the NFE and NFS developments form the wider North Field Expansion project to increase LNG production from the North Field, adding about 48 mtpa to Qatar’s export capacity and bringing it to 126 mtpa by 2027.
European giants Shell and TotalEnergies have already taken stakes in both of these developments.