Signed for 27 years! Agreement to Supply 4 Million Tons to China Every Year | Qatar | To China
According to Agence France Presse on June 20th, Qatar announced on the 20th that it has once again signed a 27 year supply agreement with a Chinese company. Meanwhile, Qatar is expanding production from the world's largest natural gas field.
According to the agreement, Qatar will supply 4 million tons of liquefied natural gas to China National Petroleum Corporation Limited annually, making it the longest agreement in the industry's history, similar to the agreement signed between Qatar and China National Petroleum and Chemical Corporation in November last year.
On June 18th, the "Lia" ship carrying over 200000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas from Qatar successfully docked at berth 3 of the Xintian LNG project in Caofeidian, Tangshan, Hebei.
It is reported that Asian countries represented by China, Japan and South Korea are the main markets for Qatari natural gas. Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the beginning of last year, European countries have increasingly demanded Qatari natural gas.
"Qatar will supply 4 million tons of liquefied natural gas to China annually from the northern gas field expansion project within 27 years," Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Qaabi said at a signing ceremony in Doha.
"This will become the second liquefied natural gas agreement between the Northern Gas Field Expansion Project and China," said Qaabi, who also serves as the head of state-owned Qatar Energy Company.
According to reports, the northern gas field extends to Iran and has the world's largest known natural gas reserves. By increasing the production of this field, Qatar's liquefied natural gas production will increase by more than 60% by 2027, reaching 126 million tons per year.
According to reports, PetroChina has also signed another agreement for Qatar to transfer 1.25% of its shares in the Northern Gas Field Expansion Project to PetroChina.
PetroChina Chairman Dai Houliang said in a statement that this has laid a solid foundation for energy cooperation between the two sides in the next 30 years.
He said that PetroChina plans to cooperate comprehensively with Qatar Energy Company in the entire oil and gas industry chain, green and low-carbon energy, and other fields.
According to reports, Qatar's natural gas resources make its per capita GDP among the top in the world, and its northern gas field expansion project has also brought a series of major agreements to the country.
In April, Sinopec became the first Asian company to invest in a northern gas field expansion project, and Qatar transferred 1.25% of its equity in the project to Sinopec.
"This type of long-term, bulk trading is exactly what Qatar Energy Company wants," said Ben Kashir, Senior Researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Qatar Energy Company may have over 60 million tons of unsigned liquefied natural gas production capacity each year... Therefore, although this transaction is significant, Qatar still needs more such transactions."
