Nasser answered a question on Tuesday during Aramco’s H1 earnings call on the company’s ambitions in the LNG industry in the next five to ten years.
The CEO noted that Aramco agreed to increase its interest in MidOcean Energy, the LNG unit of US-based energy investor EIG, to 49 percent.
Earlier this year, Aramco also signed a 20-year deal with NextDecade to buy 1.2 mtpa of LNG per year from Train 4 at the Rio Grande LNG facility.
“We are also in discussion on certain agreements that we are currently evaluating that will give us close to 2 million tonnes,” Nasser said.
“We’re looking at something in the range of about 4.5 million tonnes, some of it offtake, some of it equity,” he said.
“Our long-term ambition is to have 20 million tonnes of LNG capacity, and we continue to evaluate a lot of opportunities currently in our pipeline,” Nasser said.
Aramco’s H1 presentation shows that the company’s current plans include about 7.5 mtpa of LNG volumes.
This includes expected LNG volumes via MidOcean in near-term and the non-binding heads of agreements signed with other global LNG players, the company said.
The company has access to LNG facilities in Australia and Peru through its investment in MidOcean.
Last year, MidOcean completed its acquisition of Tokyo Gas Co.’s interests in a portfolio of Australian integrated LNG projects.
MidOcean also completed its deal to buy an additional 15 percent interest in Peru LNG from Hunt Oil.
The company’s interest in Peru LNG now stands at 35 percent, while US-based Hunt remains the operator with a 35 percent stake.
Earlier this year, MidOcean also signed a heads of agreement with Energy Transfer to jointly develop the latter’s Lake Charles LNG export facility in Louisiana.
Most recently, Aramco and Woodside entered into a non-binding collaboration agreement to explore global opportunities, including Aramco’s potential acquisition of an equity interest in and LNG offtake from the Louisiana LNG project.
