Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy H E Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, with the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné, during a press conference in Doha, yesterday.
Doha: Qatar’s massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion project will receive a total investment worth almost $50bn in order to reach the target capacity of 126 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and further solidify the country’s position as the largest LNG exporter in the world, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy H E Saad Sherida Al Kaabi said yesterday at a press conference.
During the event, Minister Al Kaabi announced that QatarEnergy has selected TotalEnergies as its first international partner in the $28.75bn North Field East (NFE) expansion project, which is billed as the world’s largest LNG development and the single largest project in the history of the LNG industry.
The Minister has signed the partnership agreements with the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné.
First production from the NFE expansion project is scheduled for year-end 2025 which, once fully completed in 2027, will increase Qatar’s LNG production to 110 mtpa. When coupled with the North Field South (NFS) expansion project, the combined output will raise the country’s total LNG production to 126 mtpa, making Qatar by far the largest single LNG producer in the world.
Responding to The Peninsula during the media conference, Minister Al Kaabi reiterated the NFE expansion project’s economic competitiveness, financial resilience, and advanced environmental characteristics.
He said: “We develop for long term. With billions of dollars in investment, the partnership that we just signed will continue (for 25 years) maybe until 2054. Competitive projects are the resilient projects that in downtimes you can still keep paying salaries, and continue to provide the world with gas, and not stop production.
“It’s a huge investment with billions of dollars. And $28.75bn is only for NFE, while the NFS project is another (investment with undisclosed amount). So close to $50bn will be invested to get the 126 mtpa up and running, excluding the investment into shipping,” Minister Al Kaabi added.
Earlier, the Minister also noted that the LNG expansion project is on track with ongoing discussions with ‘a lot of buyers’. Other partners for the NFE project will also be announced soon, but no other international partner has a higher stake than TotalEnergies, the Minister clarified. He added that partners for the NFS expansion project will also be announced by year-end.
In his speech, Minister Al Kaabi said: “This is the world’s largest LNG development. It is also a very unique development in the LNG industry because of its environmental characteristics, including significant carbon capture and sequestration technologies and capacity. As part of this project we have also embarked on the largest LNG shipbuilding program in history and awarded a series of key offshore and onshore EPC contracts. Also, thanks to the project’s economic competitiveness, financial resilience, and its unique environmental features, we have received offers for double the offered equity”.
Also responding to The Peninsula, Pouyanné reiterated the advanced benefits of Qatar’s LNG expansion project.
“RasLaffan is the energy capital of the world. The production of gas is efficient, with the programme to deploy 32 mtpa at $28.75bn is very competitive. Also, Qatar’s strategic location, either looking to supply to the East or the West. Location, cost of production, and efficiency of LNG makes Qatari LNG very competitive. Also, the selection of the ships equipped with the latest technologies generate less emission,” he added.
