QatarEnergy to Supply Bangladesh with LNG under 15-Year Deal

QatarEnergy signed Thursday an agreement to sell about 1.8 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Bangladesh with delivery starting 2026.

The deal between the global LNG giant’s trading arm with Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corp. covers 15 years.

Qatar already delivers over 3.5 million mtpa of LNG to the South Asian country, making the Gulf state the largest LNG exporter of Bangladesh, chief executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi told the signing ceremony in Doha.

“These supply arrangements reinforce our unwavering dedication to safeguarding the energy security of valued customers like Bangladesh and delivering the reliable energy they require for socio-economic development and prosperity”, Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar’s energy minister, said at the ceremony attended by Bangladesh Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Nasrul Hamid, according to a QatarEnergy press release.

The state-owned QatarEnergy said, “With this new SPA [sale and purchase agreement], QatarEnergy reaffirms its position as the LNG supplier of choice for its partners in the South Asia LNG markets”.

Qatar has been among the world’s biggest LNG exporters alongside Australia, Russia and the USA. It had held the top spot until Australia overtook it in 2021, when Qatar exported about 3.77 trillion cubic feet (106.8 billion cubic meters), according to BP PLC’s 2022 annual review of the energy market.

Asia-Pacific has been Qatar’s traditional market, accounting for around 2.72 trillion cubic feet (76.9 billion cubic meters) of the region’s LNG imports in 2021, according to data from BP.

Key to Qatar’s LNG leadership is the 2.3-square mile North Gas Field, discovered 1971. The field, about half of the country’s land area and considered the biggest in the world, has averaged 700 million standard cubic feet in gas production, QatarEnergy says on its website.

QatarEnergy is expanding its North Gas project. On May 16 it announced it has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the field’s south development, which has an output capacity of 16 million mtpa.

The east and south expansions will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 126 million mtpa from the current 77 million mtpa, the company said announcing the award to a joint venture of Technip Energies NV and Consolidated Contractors Co.

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