Aerial photo taken on Nov. 20, 2021 shows a berthed ship being filled with liquefied natural gas (LNG) at an LNG filling station in Macun port of Chengmai County, south China's Hainan Province.Photo:Xinhua

China's Sinopec said on Monday that it has signed a 27-year deal with QatarEnergy for liquefied natural gas (LNG), and QatarEnergy will supply 4 million tons of the fuel each year.

Reuters reported that it is the longest-term LNG agreement so far.

It is the second sales and purchase agreement (SPA) signed between Sinopec and QatarEnergy, and it is the first long-term LNG SPA for the North Field expansion project, according to the official WeChat account of Sinopec. 

The North Field expansion project is expected to come into operation in 2026.

Sinopec's chairman Ma Yongsheng said that the deal will help meet the demand for natural gas in the Chinese market, and optimize China's energy consumption structure and improve the security, stability and reliability of its energy supply.

Ma added that China and Qatar are naturally complementary in the energy field, creating a good environment to deepen their  cooperation.

QatarEnergy chief Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said that the cooperation spans different fields and will last for as long as 27 years, which is of extraordinary significance, opening a new chapter of cooperation between the two parties.

The North Field, the largest natural gas field in the world, is jointly owned by Qatar and Iran. The expansion project of the field is divided into two phases: North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) .

In June, QatarEnergy signed the NFE agreement, the first and larger phase of a two-phase expansion plan. In September, Qatar Energy signed the NFS contract with partners for the second phase of the expansion.

The entire capacity expansion plan includes the addition of six LNG production lines (of which the NFE project includes four), increasing Qatar's LNG production capacity from 77 million tons per year to 126 million tons in 2027, according to news portal cls.cn.

China produced 178.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas from January to October this year, a year-on-year increase of 6.0 percent, and imported  88.74 million tons of natural gas, a year-on-year decrease of 10.4 percent.

Global Times