QatarEnergy (QE) has signed up to buy 70% of the production from its Golden Pass LNG export project, which it is developing with ExxonMobil in Texas.
Golden Pass should begin producing LNG by the end of 2024, with total capacity reaching 18 million tonnes per year of LNG.
QE said it and Exxon had agreed to “independently offtake and market” their respective shares. QatarEnergy Trading signed up to offtake, transport and trade 70% of the production.
QE owns a 70% stake in Golden Pass, while Exxon has the remaining 30%.
QE president and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said his company was the “global leader in LNG”. As a result, “it is only natural for us to increase focus on LNG trading and portfolio optimisation”, he said. The company is providing “innovative LNG solutions that meet the needs of our customers across the globe”.
“I am proud of what QatarEnergy Trading has achieved in the very short time since its inception and with this new addition to its portfolio, I am confident that QatarEnergy Trading will accelerate its efforts to deliver on our aspiration of becoming a world leader in LNG trading in the near future.”
QE established its trading unit two years ago. The company’s first move was to sign a deal to supply LNG to Singapore.
Al-Kaabi went on to say the energy market was “highly dynamic and undergoing a period of transformation”.
The deal with Golden Pass will play a part in QE’s “efforts to meet demand for cleaner energy”. It will also “support the economic and environmental requirements for a practical, equitable and realistic energy transition”.
Exxon is said to be in with a chance to take a stake in QE’s North Field South (NFS) project.