Qatar secures France’s 27-year LNG supply deal
Qatar Energy and TotalEnergies have signed two long-term LNG agreements under which Qatar will supply up to 3.5 million tons per year of LNG to France for 27 years beginning in 2026, Qatar’s state giant said on Wednesday.
TotalEnergies is a minority partner in Qatar’s huge LNG expansion projects North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS), from which the volumes to be delivered to France will be sourced. TotalEnergies’ partnership in the expansion projects is made up of a 6.25% share in the NFE project and a 9.375% interest in the NFS project.
The LNG will be delivered on an ex-ship basis to the Fos Cavaou LNG receiving terminal in southern France.
Qatar will thus increase its shipments to France, which has been receiving some Qatari LNG since 2009.
“These two new agreements we have signed with our partner TotalEnergies, demonstrate our continued commitment to the European markets in general, and to the French market in particular, thus contributing to France’s energy security,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy President and CEO.
“Our efforts span from bolstering production capacity in Qatar to the development of the Golden Pass LNG export project in the United States, in addition to our commitments in various LNG receiving terminals in Europe, including the Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG Terminal in France,” Al-Kaabi added.
The deal with TotalEnergies is the first 27-year deal for QatarEnergy to supply LNG to Europe, a deal that follows similar 27-year deals with Chinese firm Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
Earlier this month, Qatar broke ground for the world’s largest LNG project, the North Field expansion project, which will boost the tiny Gulf country’s export capacity by 48 million tons per annum (mmtpa) by 2027.
In July this year, Al-Kaabi said that “40% of all the new LNG that will come to the market by 2029, when all our projects are up and running, is going to be from QatarEnergy.”
