Qatar Petroleum (QP) will become the sole owner of the Qatargas 1 joint venture, after opting not to renew the deal with Total, ExxonMobil, Marubeni and Mitsui.
QP will hold 100% of the venture as of January 1, 2022.
The Qatari company formed the QG1 venture in 1984.
“The takeover by Qatar Petroleum will conclude more than 25 years of successful operations of QG1, from which the first ever Qatari LNG cargo was exported,” said QP’s president and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, also Minister of State for Energy Affairs.
He described it as a “momentous event”, highlighting QP’s focus on the use of its natural resources. These will benefit “our country and its current and future generations”, he said. In addition to the world’s energy needs.
QG1 has capacity of 10 million tonnes per year. Qatargas will continue to operate the facilities for QP.
Partnership
Al-Kaabi thanked the foreign partners for their role in the joint venture.
“In particular, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Total, for being a foundation shareholder from inception and for their valuable contributions throughout this journey”, the minister said.
ExxonMobil stepped in “at a critical juncture of the project and leveraging their experience to help making the project a reality; and to Mitsui and Marubeni for their valuable contributions in securing anchor offtakes for the project and for their great support during the early phases.”
The executive went on to thank Chubu Electric, the foundation customer of the QG1 venture. “And, of course, the country of Japan as a whole”.
QG1 has three trains, each with 3.3mn tpy of capacity. QP has a 65% stake in the venture, while Exxon and Total each have 10%. Mitsui and Marubeni have 7.5% each.
Qatar launched QG2 in 2004, QG3 in 2005 and QG4 in 2007.
QP is in the process of choosing foreign partners for its next LNG venture, North Field East (NFE).