DOHA: China’s Sinopec will take a stake in the eastern expansion of Qatar’s North Field liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, state energy company QatarEnergy said on Wednesday.

The state-owned Chinese gas giant will take a 5% stake in the equivalent of one North Field East LNG train with capacity of 8 million tonnes per year, a QatarEnergy statement said.

North Field is part of the world’s biggest gas field, which Qatar shares with Iran. The Iranian part of the field is known as the South Pars field.

QatarEnergy had previously said that it could give up to 5% stakes in its North Field expansion to what Saad al-Kaabi, the Gulf state’s energy minister and CEO of QatarEnergy, described as “value-added partners”.

The agreement makes Sinopec the first Asian buyer to take a stake in the project.

Cooperation with QatarEnergy will help improve safety, stability and reliability in China’s supply of clean energy, Sinopec Chairman Ma Yongsheng said on the company’s Wechat account on Wednesday, adding that he hopes both sides will explore further collaboration on LNG.

Last November Sinopec signed a deal in which QatarEnergy agreed to supply 4 million tonnes of LNG annually for 27 years - the longest LNG contract signed by Qatar. Sinopec said the agreement was part of an “integrated partnership” and indicated that it could also acquire a stake in Qatar’s North Field expansion export facility.

QatarEnergy last year signed five deals for North Field East, the first and larger phase of the two-phase North Field expansion. The expansion includes a total of six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027, up from the current 77 million tonnes.