QatarEnergy Selects First International Partner for NFS Expansion Project

QatarEnergy announced last weekend that it had selected the first international partner in the North Field South (NFS) expansion project.

The company revealed that it chose TotalEnergies for the NFS development, which it highlighted comprises two LNG “mega” trains with a combined capacity of 16 million tons per annum (MTPA). The project will raise Qatar’s total LNG export capacity to 126 MTPA, QatarEnergy highlighted.

Under the terms of its deal with QatarEnergy, TotalEnergies will have an effective net participating interest of 9.375 percent in the NFS project, out of a total 25 percent interest available for international partners, while QatarEnergy will hold a 75 percent stake. Other partners in the NFS project will be announced “in due course”, QatarEnergy outlined.

The NFS and North Field East expansion projects comprise the North Field Expansion Project, which is said to be the industry’s largest ever LNG project. It will start production in 2026 and will add more than 48 MTPA to the world’s LNG supplies, according to QatarEnergy.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, and the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said, “QatarEnergy is moving forward to help meet growing global demand for cleaner energy, of which LNG is the backbone for a serious and realistic energy transition”.

“We are committing significant investments to lower the carbon intensity of our energy products, which constitutes a key pillar of QatarEnergy’s sustainability and energy transition strategy. We will continue our efforts to power lives in every corner of the world for a better tomorrow for all,” he added.

“I am pleased to welcome TotalEnergies yet again as a partner in our flagship LNG projects. I would like to thank the working teams at QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies for their excellent cooperation that led to this agreement,” he went on to note.

Commenting on TotalEnergies’ deal with QatarEnergy, Patrick Pouyanné, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, said, “following North Field East, we are truly honored and proud that Qatar has once again chosen TotalEnergies to be QatarEnergy’s first partner in North Field South”.

“The State of Qatar’s ambitious leadership in further developing its natural gas resources through this expansion project, which ranks among the world’s most competitive in terms of costs and low emissions, will make a major contribution to increasing LNG supply in the years to come,” he added.

“We consider Qatar as a long-term strategic country for TotalEnergies and this latest addition to our portfolio marks an important step toward our low-carbon LNG growth objectives, a key pillar of TotalEnergies’ transformation into a sustainable multi-energy company. It will also further strengthen our ability, together with Qatar, to support Europe’s energy security,” he continued.

Commenting on the latest TotalEnergies – QatarEnergy partnership, Janko Lukac, the vice president and senior analyst at Moody’s, said, “even though this individual project on its own will not have a significant impact on TotalEnergies’ overall performance, it underlines its leading position in the global LNG market”.

TotalEnergies highlighted in a company statement on Saturday that it had previously been selected as the first partner for the 32 MTPA North Field East liquefied natural gas project. In that statement, TotalEnergies noted that it is the world’s third-largest low-carbon LNG company with a global market share of around 10 percent.

QatarEnergy announced that it had selected TotalEnergies as its first international partner in the North Field East expansion project back in June.

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