US oil behemoth, ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), has disclosed its investments in Qatar's liquified natural gas (LNG) expansion projects, totaling nearly $30 billion. The company's senior vice president, Peter Clarke, announced the investments on Wednesday, revealing that the funds have been deployed through long-term partnership agreements with the Gulf nation.
ExxonMobil's investments in Qatar date back to the 1990s and have contributed to the development of 12 of the country's 14 LNG trains. In addition to this, the firm has also invested in 27 LNG vessels for the purpose of transporting Qatari gas.
In a recent move, ExxonMobil procured a substantial stake in Qatar's North Field East (NFE) LNG expansion project last year. The company confirmed it had signed an agreement to further develop the NFE project, which is set to increase Qatar's annual LNG capacity from 77 million tonnes to 110 million tonnes by 2026.
The agreement entails a new joint venture between QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, where the Qatari entity holds a 75% interest while ExxonMobil retains the remaining 25%. This joint venture owns a quarter of the entire NFE project, which includes four LNG trains with a combined nameplate capacity of 32 million tonnes per annum.
Qatar has been aggressively scaling up its LNG production capacity while also investing heavily in strategic offshore projects to sustain and increase oil production. The rising demand for natural gas in key Asian markets and Europe has triggered multiple expansion projects in Qatar, one of the world's largest exporters of LNG.
The NFE project aims to expand Qatar's LNG production to 110 million tpa by 2026. A second phase, North Field South, is set to further boost its capacity to 126 million tpa by 2027. Beyond the North Field project, ExxonMobil is the only international company to hold stakes in two domestic Qatari gas projects, Al Khaleej Gas and Barzan Gas.
ExxonMobil also plans to significantly expand its global LNG business and aims to almost double its LNG handling portfolio to 40 million tonnes per annum by 2030. ExxonMobil plans to tap rising demand from Asia and Europe, where LNG is increasingly becoming more crucial for energy security in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
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