State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp on Sunday signed a long-term contract with Qatar Petroleum to purchase three million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, a statement said.

Kuwait, which is rich in oil but falls short in gas production, is currently importing 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per year from BP, Shell and Qatar Petroleum. The new agreement will run for 15 years starting in 2022 when the new $3 billion LNG receiving terminal at Al-Zour Port, in the south of Kuwait.