QatarEnergy selects Sinopec as North Field East expansion partner

QatarEnergy has signed a definitive partnership agreement with China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) for the North Field East (NFE) expansion project, the largest project in the history of the LNG industry.

The agreement was signed by His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and Dr. MA Yong-sheng, the Chairman of Sinopec, in a ceremony held on Wednesday at QatarEnergy’s headquarters, the company said.

The agreement marks the entry of Sinopec as a shareholder in one of the NFE joint venture companies that own the project. QatarEnergy will transfer to Sinopec a 5% interest in the equivalent of one NFE train with a capacity of 8 million tons per annum (MTPA), the company said, adding that the agreement will not affect the participating interests of any of the other shareholders.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, His Excellency Al-Kaabi said: “The People’s Republic of China is a major driver of the global energy markets as well as being one of the most important gas markets in the world and is a key market for Qatari energy products. Today’s event underscores QatarEnergy’s commitment to deepening its relationships with key LNG consumers, while prioritizing long-term strategic partnerships and alignment with world class partners from China, represented by Sinopec here today.”

Noting the November 2022 agreement to supply Sinopec with 4 MTPA of LNG from the NFE project, His Excellency Al-Kaabi said: “That agreement was not only the first NFE LNG supply agreement to be announced, but also the longest LNG supply agreement in the history of the industry. Today, Sinopec will join Qatar’s LNG family becoming the first Asian shareholder in the NFE project.”

“We are pleased to enter into this milestone agreement with Sinopec, marking yet another landmark in the excellent bilateral relations between the People’s Republic of China and the State of Qatar,” he said.

On his part, Dr. Ma Yongsheng, the Chairman of Sinopec, congratulated both parties on signing the NFE project partnership agreement and said: “The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Qatar’s Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani during the first China-Arab Summit and China-GCC Summit in 2022, comprehensively outlined the development blueprint of the strategic partnership between the two countries and guided the China-Qatar energy cooperation. The signing of this agreement today is a concrete move to carry forward what has been agreed between the two heads of state and deepen the partnership between Sinopec and QatarEnergy. It is another milestone after the signing of the long-term LNG SPA from the NFE project in November 2022, marking the integrated cooperation achieved by both companies on the NFE project.”

Dr. Ma further added that China-Qatar energy cooperation “features a natural complementarity. QatarEnergy is a leading LNG producer in the world and one of the most important partners of Sinopec. The cooperation with QatarEnergy will help Sinopec further optimize China's energy consumption structure and enhance the security, stability, and reliability of clean energy supply. I hope that the two companies will continue to explore new LNG cooperation opportunities based on the solid foundation we have laid together and will further expand cooperation areas to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.”

The agreement is the first of its kind after last year’s series of partnership announcements in the $28.75 billion NFE project, which will raise Qatar’s LNG export capacity from the current 77 MTPA to 110 MTPA.