QatarEnergy has selected Eni as a partner in the North Field East (NFE) expansion project, a week after its announcement of forming a joint partnership with TotalEnergies.
This announcement by Qatar’s state-owned energy giant marks the second partnership in the $28.75bn NFE mega project, which will expand the country’s LNG production capacity from the current 77mn tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 110 MTPA.
The partnership agreement was signed in a special ceremony at QatarEnergy’s headquarters in Doha by His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, and Claudio Descalzi, the CEO of Eni, in the presence of senior executives from both companies.
Pursuant to the agreement, the organisations will become partners in a new joint venture company (JV), in which QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest while Eni will hold the remaining 25% interest. The JV will in turn own 12.5% of the entire NFE project, whose 4 mega LNG trains have a combined nameplate capacity of 32 MTPA.
In his remarks during the ceremony, His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi highlighted QatarEnergy’s relations with the Italian O&G firm, and welcomed the new partnership: “I would like to welcome Eni as a new member of Qatar’s LNG family. This agreement will strengthen our mutual cooperation for decades to come. It is an important addition to a series of partnerships with Eni, which include upstream exploration projects in a number of locations around the world as QatarEnergy expands its international footprint.”
His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi added: “I would like to thank His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for His wise leadership and for his unwavering support to Qatar’s energy sector.”
Eni’s entry into Qatar
QatarEnergy also noted that this is Eni’s first entry ever into the State of Qatar’s upstream sector.
On his part, Descalzi said: “We are honoured and delighted for having been selected as a partner in the North Field East expansion project. As a newcomer joining this world-leading LNG project, we feel the privilege and the responsibility of being a strategic partner of choice for the State of Qatar.
“This agreement is a significant milestone for Eni and fits our objective to diversify into cleaner and more reliable energy sources in line with our decarbonisation strategy. Eni looks forward to working with QatarEnergy on this project to positively contribute to increasing worldwide gas security of supply.”
QatarEnergy has also stated that more partners are slated to join the NFE Project, and the relevant announcements will be made soon.