Total Energies and Qatar Energy have agreed to form a joint venture, JV, which will take a 25% stake in Qatar's $28.75 billion NFE expansion project. Qatar Energy will own 75% of the joint venture, while Total Energies will hold the remaining 25%. The annual production capacity of the NFE LNG project is 32MTPA. The French company's foray into LNG projects comes after a competitive process that began in 2019 to select Qatar Energy's international partner.

Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of Total Energies, said: "Qatar has huge natural gas resources and it intends to further develop these resources to increase production of the lowest cost, most environmentally friendly and optimally located LNG. We are proud that Qatar has once again selected Total Energies for this new phase of LNG expansion. Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell and ConocoPhillips are also expected to be part of a larger Northfield expansion project. Qatar Energy has confirmed more partners to join the NFE project. The Qatari state-owned company said final terms had been agreed with the parties and an announcement would be made soon.

The subsequent North Field South project, also part of the North Field expansion project, will further increase the capacity in Qatar to 126MTPA. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs of Qatar and President and CEO of Qatar Energy, said the North Field East project is a landmark achievement that will not only ensure the use of Qatar's natural resources, but will also provide the world with cleaner energy .

Today, Qatar Energy is standing on the threshold of a new era with a stronger commitment to the energy transition and safe, reliable and trustworthy access to clean energy. The upstream of the LNG project involves the development of the southeastern part of the Offshore North Gas Field. As part of this, eight platforms will be built, 80 wells will be drilled and a gas pipeline will be laid to connect the onshore plant in Ras Laffan in northeastern Qatar. The final investment decision for the LNG project was made by Qatar Energy in early 2021. The company expects the NFE project to start production by the end of 2025.Editor/XingWentao