DOHA: US oil giant ConocoPhillips on Sunday agreed to take another major stake in Qatar’s expansion of natural gas production, the Gulf state’s energy minister said.

Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi also said Qatar was talking with Asian nations — the major market for Qatari gas — over a share in its campaign to increase annual production by 60 percent to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.

ConocoPhillips will have a 6.25 percent share in Qatar’s North Field South project, part of the world’s biggest proven natural gas reserves, Kaabi said at a signing ceremony with the US firm’s chairman Ryan Lance.

France’s TotalEnergies and Britain’s Shell both have 9.37 percent stakes in the field, while state-owned Qatar Energy has the remaining 75 percent.

Industry sources said the foreign firms are paying a total of about $5 billion for the joint 25 percent share in North Field South that will produce about 16 million tonnes of gas a year.

ConocoPhillips and the other Western firms also took key stakes in North Field East this year.

Kaabi told a press conference the latest deal “further strengthens our long and fruitful strategic relationship” with the US company.