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TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne (left) and Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi: the deal is in place
Photo: KARIM JAAFAR / AFP
The French energy group TotalEnergies has become the first foreign company to be awarded the joint development contract for the world's largest natural gas field by Qatar.
Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi announced that TotalEnergies will hold a 6.25 percent stake in the project, which aims to increase Qatar's natural gas production by 60 percent by 2027.
TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said the company will own 25 percent of a train -- or liquefaction and purification plant -- in the project.
The expansion is expected to increase Qatar's liquefaction capacity from 77 million tons per year by 2026 to 126 million tons per year by 2027.
According to Qatar, there are four so-called trains in total - TotalEnergies has a quarter stake in a virtual train and thus has a total share of 6.25 percent.
TotalEnergies is the first foreign company the emirate intends to work with on the North Field East project, with others to follow.
Natural gas imports from Qatar have become significantly more important for European countries since the Russian attack on Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions.
Qatar signed an energy partnership with Germany in May.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Gulf State, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the emirate wants to supply the Federal Republic with liquid gas as early as 2024.
Qatar is repeatedly criticized for systematic violations of human rights and the exploitation of migrant workers.
»More of a marriage than a partnership«
The "North Field East" project aims to extract gas from the South Pars field, which stretches from the coast of Qatar to Iran in the Persian Gulf.
Alongside the USA and Australia, Qatar is already one of the main producing countries for liquid gas.
According to estimates by the state-owned company Qatar Energy (QE), the emirate controls around ten percent of the world's gas reserves.
The Qatari minister al-Kaabi described the contract with TotalEnergies as "more of a marriage than a partnership", the contract runs until 2054. According to industry information, the energy companies ExxonMobil, Shell and ConocoPhillips also want to acquire shares in the "North Field East" development project .
Qatar had originally planned to handle the project alone.
ani/AFP