State-owned QatarEnergy has reportedly selected energy giants TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, and Shell to join its massive LNG expansion project in Ras Laffan.
Both Bloomberg and Reuters reported, citing sources, that Qatar has chosen ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies to join the LNG expansion project.
Reuters also said that Shell and ConocoPhillips would join the development as well.
The four majors are expected to have around 20-25 percent in total of the offtake of the new project, a smaller stake than their share in current Qatari projects, which ranges between 25-35 percent, according to Reuters.
Besides these four firms, Chevron and Eni also submitted bids in May 2021 to take part in the project, the agency said.
Reuters also said that QatarEnergy would hold a press conference and a signing ceremony on June 12, without specifying the subject.
To remind, Qatar’s energy minister and chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said in June last year that Shell, TotalEnergies, and ExxonMobil were bidding to take a stake in the company’s giant LNG expansion project.
He said then that Qatar Petroleum, now QatarEnergy, had received offers for double the equity available to potential partners in the bidding process for the North Field East project.
Increasing capacity to 126 mtpa
In February last year, QatarEnergy took a final investment decision on the $28.75 billion North Field East project. The development includes building four mega trains with a capacity of 8 million tonnes per year in the Ras Laffan complex.
This first phase of the expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 mtpa. QatarEnergy expects to start production in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The state-owned firm is also working on a second phase to further boost capacity to 126 mtpa by 2027 as well as additional expansions.
QatarEnergy and its unit Qatargas are also working on a giant fleet of LNG carriers to support this expansion and the firms already completed the first contracts in China and South Korea, with many more to come.
