Doha: QatarEnergy announced that it has selected Eni as a partner in the North Field East (NFE) expansion project, the single largest project in the history of the LNG industry.
This announcement marks the second partnership in the $28.75 billion NFE mega project, which will expand Qatar’s LNG production capacity from the current 77 million tons per annum (MTPA) to 110 MTPA. This expansion will boost Qatar's position as the world's top LNG exporter.
The partnership agreement was signed at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha by H E Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, in the presence of senior executives from both companies.
Pursuant to the agreement, QatarEnergy and Eni will become partners in a new joint venture company (JV), in which QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest while Eni will hold the remaining 25% interest. The JV will in turn own 12.5% of the entire NFE project, whose 4 mega LNG trains have a combined nameplate capacity of 32 MTPA.
In his remarks during the ceremony, Minister Al-Kaabi highlighted QatarEnergy’s relations with Eni saying: “I would like to welcome Eni as a new member of Qatar’s LNG family. This agreement will strengthen our mutual cooperation for decades to come. It is an important addition to a series of partnerships with Eni, which include upstream exploration projects in a number of locations around the world as QatarEnergy expands its international footprint.”
This is Eni’s first entry ever into Qatar’s upstream sector. Qatar Energy and Eni are partners in oil and gas projects in Oman, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique and Kenya.
"As a newcomer joining this world leading LNG project, we feel the privilege and the responsibility of being a strategic partner of choice for the State of Qatar. This agreement is a significant milestone for Eni and fits our objective to diversify into cleaner and more reliable energy sources in line with our decarbonization strategy,” Descalzi said.
More partners are slated to join the NFE Project, and the relevant announcements will be made soon.
Oil majors have been bidding for four trains - or liquefaction and purification facilities. TotalEnergies had said it will have 25% of one virtual train, giving it a share of around 6.25% of the four.
In all, the North Field Expansion plan includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 126 mtpa by 2027. The fifth and sixth trains are part of a second phase, North Field South.
Once the investments have been completed, Asian buyers are expected to make up half the market for the project and European buyers the rest.
