QatarEnergy Trading is to offtake and trade 70% of the liquified natural gas that will be produced at the Golden Pass LNG export project in the US.
The subsidiary’s parent company state-owned giant QatarEnergy said it has reached an agreement with US supermajor ExxonMobil “to independently offtake and market their respective proportionate equity shares of LNG”, produced by the Golden Pass LNG facility in Sabine Pass, Texas.
QatarEnergy holds a 70% stake in the under-construction LNG export facility with ExxonMobil holding the remaining 30%.
Golden Pass is expected to have an LNG output capacity of more than 18 million tonnes per annum and is due to start production by the end of 2024.
The Ocean LNG joint venture between subsidiaries of QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil for offtaking and marketing Golden Pass LNG’s output has ceased operations and will be wound down following the new arrangement, QatarEnergy said.
QatarEnergy chief executive Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi recently noted that his company aims to further ramp up its presence in LNG trading and shipping operations, and that the emirate will be the largest LNG trader in the world in the next five to 10 years.
Al Kaabi had said that the ongoing North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) projects in Qatar, and the US-based Golden Pass projects, will together bring a total of 48 million tonnes per annum of LNG in the coming years.
He added that the new offtake agreement with ExxonMobil is an important addition to the company’s efforts to meet the demand for cleaner energy and to support the economic and environmental requirements for a realistic energy transition.
Qatar is expanding the LNG production potential of its giant North Field through two sizeable expansion phases, together said to be worth up to $50 billion.
The first phase, NFE, which is already under way, envisages scaling up Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 110 million tpa by 2026.
NFS aims to ramp up further its LNG production capability to 126 million tpa, an increase from the current 77 million tpa nameplate capacity.
The company is also scaling up its presence in the European market, as the continent moves to replace Russian gas supplies, and is expected to sell between 12 million and 15 million tonnes of LNG to Europe next year.
Read more
