Doha: Qatar Energy on Monday announced a 27-year natural gas supply deal with China. It has been described as the world’s longest gas supply agreement. The deal cements deals between Asia’s biggest gas supplier and gas importer at a time when European countries dependent on Russia’s gas supplies are scrambling for alternative sources of gas due to the war in Ukraine.
According to news from the news agency AFP, Qatar’s state energy company QatarEnergy will send four million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually to China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) from its new North Field East project. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of Qatar Energy, said the deal is the longest gas supply agreement in the history of the LNG industry. Asian countries led by China, Japan, and South Korea are the main markets for Qatar’s gas. Which is being demanded by European countries after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Negotiations for Qatar’s gas deal with European countries have hit a wall as Germany and other countries have refused to sign long-term purchase deals with it. Qatar is expanding its North Field liquefied natural gas production facility. So that by 2027, more than 60 percent of the total production from there, 126 million tonnes of gas can be produced annually. China is the first country to deal with North Field East. While Sinopec Chairman Ma Yongsheng, who attended a virtual signing ceremony from Beijing, said the agreement is a milestone. Because Qatar is the world’s largest LNG supplier and China is the world’s largest LNG importer.
Sinopec chairman Ma Yongsheng, who took part in a virtual signing ceremony from Beijing, said it was a “milestone” accord as “Qatar is the world’s largest LNG supplier and China is the world’s largest LNG importer”.
He told the ceremony that he had “formally” requested in October last year a share of Qatar’s North Field South project. TotalEnergies of France, Shell of Britain, and US giant ConocoPhillips will share the 25 percent foreign stake in the field.
