QatarEnergy, Taiwan’s CPC sign LNG supply, partnership agreements
QatarEnergy has signed definitive agreements with Taiwan’s CPC Corporation covering the long-term supply of LNG and a partnership in the North Field East (NFE) LNG expansion project, the company announced on June 5.
The two parties signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for the delivery of 4mn tonnes/year of LNG from the NFE project to CPC over a period of 27 years. Additionally, they signed a share sale and purchase agreement, under which QatarEnergy will transfer a 5% interest in one NFE train, which has a capacity of 8mn tonnes/year, to CPC. This transfer will make CPC a partner in the NFE project without affecting the participating interests of any other shareholders.
The agreements were signed by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, CEO of QatarEnergy, and Shun-Chin Lee, the chairman of CPC Corporation, in Doha.
Shun-Chin Lee stated, “QatarEnergy, the world’s leading LNG player, has been playing an important role in ensuring Taiwan’s domestic gas market over the past decades. CPC’s acquired equity in the NFE project and this new LNG SPA will further strengthen the cooperative relationship between our two companies.”
The NFE project is part of the overall North Field LNG expansion program, which also includes the North Field South and North Field West projects. Together, these projects will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from the current 77mn tonnes/year to 142mn tonnes/year by 2030.
Al-Kaabi recently said that Qatar’s ambitious LNG expansion projects are progressing as planned. Addressing last year's media skepticism about Qatar’s expansion plans and concerns over potential difficulties in selling LNG, Al-Kaabi reported significant progress.
“Today I can report that since then, we have secured 25mn tonnes of long-term LNG sales, and I can tell you also on this podium that we're signing more this year,” he said on May 15 during a panel discussion at the Qatar Economic Forum.
Qatar, the world's largest LNG exporter, held a groundbreaking ceremony on October 3 last year for the North Field expansion project, which will raise the country's LNG production capacity from 77mn tonnes/year to 126mn tonnes/year by 2026.
In December last year, QatarEnergy announced the successful integration of all marketing and marketing-related activities formerly managed by QatarEnergy LNG. In February this year, QatarEnergy unveiled the North Field West LNG expansion project.