QatarEnergy selects Sinopec as NFE expansion partner

QatarEnergy has farmed out a stake in the North Field East (NFE) expansion project to China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), the first Asian shareholder in the project.

The agreement marks the entry of Sinopec as a shareholder in one of the NFE joint venture companies that own the NFE project, the operator said in a release Apr. 12. In the deal, QatarEnergy will transfer to Sinopec a 5% interest in the equivalent of one NFE train with a capacity of 8 million tonnes/year (tpy).

In November 2022, the two companies signed the first and longest LNG supply agreement with a deal for 4 million tpy from the project for 27 years (OGJ Online, Nov. 22, 2022).

The farmout is the first of its kind after last year’s series of partnership announcements in the $28.75 billion NFE project, QatarEnergy said. The project aims to raise Qatar’s LNG export capacity to 110 million tpy from the current 77 million tpy.

The agreement, the operator noted, does not affect the participating interests of any of the other shareholders.