Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy H E Saad Sherida Al Kaabi and Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Darren Woods during the agreement signing in the presence of senior executives from both sides, yesterday.
Doha: QatarEnergy announced yesterday that it has selected ExxonMobil as its fourth international partner in the North Field East (NFE) expansion project, the single largest project in the history of the LNG industry.
A special ceremony was held at QatarEnergy’s headquarters to mark the occasion, during which H E Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and Darren Woods, the Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, signed the partnership agreement in the presence of senior executives from both sides.
The agreement stipulates a new joint venture company (JV), in which QatarEnergy will hold a 75 percent interest while ExxonMobil will hold the remaining 25 percent interest. The new JV will own 25 percent of the entire NFE project, which includes 4 mega LNG trains with a combined LNG capacity of 32 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).
Addressing the event, Minister Al Kaabi said: “Today, we are signing a partnership agreement with ExxonMobil, our strategic and long-term partner, with whom we have enjoyed successful and fruitful relations in Qatar and across the globe. This is primarily due to the mutual trust and confidence between both parties, and to the State of Qatar’s safe and stable investment climate”.
Minister Al Kaabi noted: “In addition to many energy partnerships in Qatar, we work with ExxonMobil in the upstream exploration sector in many parts of the world. We are also working closely together on the implementation of the Golden Pass LNG export project in Texas, as QatarEnergy implements its strategy to expand its portfolio in energy projects in Qatar and beyond.
“We look forward to working closely with ExxonMobil to implement this world-scale project, and to live up to our commitment to power lives with cleaner energy in every corner of the world for a better tomorrow for all. I would like to thank His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for His wise leadership and for his unwavering support to Qatar’s energy sector,” he added.
Also speaking during the event, Darren Woods said: “ExxonMobil’s scale, unique capabilities, and expertise will contribute to enhancing the North Field’s LNG production capacity, helping to meet the world’s growing demand for energy while supporting a lower-emissions future. This is an important milestone in our longstanding relationship with the State of Qatar and QatarEnergy, which continue to advance their global LNG leadership.
“Now more than ever we are seeing how access to reliable, affordable, cleaner energy is essential. ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy share a commitment to reliably and responsibly supply the energy the world needs. We look forward for the strengthening of our relationships with QatarEnergy through the North Field Expansion and we look forward to continuing our partnership in bringing more abundant, reliable and cleaner energy future,” Woods added.
The $28.75bn NFE project will expand Qatar’s LNG export capacity from the current 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 110 mtpa. It is expected to start production in 2026, and employs the highest health, safety, and environmental standards, including carbon capture and sequestration, to reduce the project’s overall carbon footprint to the lowest levels possible.
