MEOG: CNPC signs Qatari LNG deals

State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) was this week awarded a minority shareholding in QatarEnergy’s North Field East (NFE) expansion project and signed a long-term LNG supply deal.

Under the agreements, CNPC will be supplied with 4mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG for a period of 27 years, tying for the longest such deal ever signed, which was struck between QatarEnergy and China’s Sinopec in November last year. Meanwhile, as with a subsequent contract with Sinopec in April, CNPC will become a 5% shareholder in one of the NFE joint ventures (JVs) that own the NFE project. This interest is in the equivalent of one NFE train with a capacity of 8mn tpy.

The deals were signed by Qatari Energy Minister and president and CEO of QatarEnergy HE Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi and CNPC chairman Dai Houliang.

Al-Kaabi said: “These agreements demonstrate our unwavering commitment to our customers and partners and to our shared ambition for a sustainable future facilitated by a cleaner, and more eco-friendly, energy source that would catalyse substantial socio-economic development.”

NFE, together with North Field South (NFS), will raise Qatar’s liquefaction capacity from the current level of 77mn tpy to 126mn tpy by 2027. The NFE development comprises the drilling of 80 wells, installation of eight offshore platforms, gas pipelines and four 8mn tpy LNG trains.