Business & Finance

Qatar's QP signs deal for mega LNG expansion

  • The contract - which covers major onshore engineering, procurement and construction - was signed with a joint venture between Chiyoda and Technip and is known as North Field East.
  • "The total cost of the project will be $28.7 billion, making it one of the industry's largest investments in the past few years and largest LNG capacity ever built," Kaabi said.
Published February 8, 2021

DUBAI: Qatar Petroleum (QP), the world's top liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier, on Monday signed a contract for a first phase of expanding its North Field LNG project, which will boost the country's LNG output to 110 million tonnes per year by 2026.

The contract - which covers major onshore engineering, procurement and construction - was signed with a joint venture between Chiyoda and Technip and is known as North Field East.

Production from that phase will start by the fourth quarter of 2025 and reach full capacity by late 2026 or early 2027, QP's CEO Saad al-Kaabi said in a virtual news conference.

"The total cost of the project will be $28.7 billion, making it one of the industry's largest investments in the past few years and largest LNG capacity ever built," Kaabi said.

Kaabi, who is also Qatar's energy minister, said that though QP is ready to develop the North Field alone, the bidding process for international oil firms to take up to a 30% stake in the project's first phase will start next week.

He said he expects a decision to finalise partnerships with the IOCs for the field's expansion by the end of this year.

ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and ConocoPhillips are long-standing partners in Qatar's LNG plants.

The second phase, known as the North Field South project, will lift Qatar's LNG production capacity to 126 mtpa by 2027 from today's 77 mtpa.

Kaabi said that QP is currently evaluating further increase in LNG capacity beyond the 126 mtpa.

"I would say stay tuned," he added.

Comments

Comments are closed.