ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum to supply LNG to the UK

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corp. said June 24 that they have signed an agreement for the supply of liquefied natural gas from Qatar to the United Kingdom.

The agreement was signed by Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Qatar minister of energy and industry, and Harry Longwell, director and executive vice president of ExxonMobil and covers the development of two LNG trains, expected to be the largest ever built by industry. The feed gas will be from Qatar’s giant North Field, with proven natural gas reserves in excess of 900 trillion cubic feet. Qatar Petroleum will have a 70 percent equity interest in the LNG trains and ExxonMobil 30 percent.

The companies said the LNG trains will be built at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar. LNG shipments are scheduled to begin in 2006-2007 and continue for 25 years. ExxonMobil is investigating potential import facility sites in the United Kingdom.

Longwell said the project will supply the first LNG imports to the United Kingdom in 20 years.

“UK indigenous gas supplies are expected to decline in the near future,” Longwell said, “and by the end of this decade a shortfall is anticipated that will have to be met from other sources such as LNG imports.”