Qatargas announced on September 10 that it agreed a 22-year liquified natural gas (LNG) supply deal with China for the shipment of 3.4 million tons of LNG per year, Reuters reported.
The Qatargas 2 project-venture between state-owned Qatar Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, and Total will supply LNG to terminals across China as the country looks to reduce its air pollution. The first cargo is slated to be delivered this month.
The Qatargas fleet of 70 conventional, Q-Flex, and Q-Max vessels will deliver LNG to Chinese terminals including Dalian, Jiangsu, Tangshan and Shenzhen, the company said.
China is looking to replace coal with cleaner burning natural gas in a push to reduce air pollution, and overtook South Korea as the second largest buyer of LNG after the initiative was started last year.
China’s imports of LNG may increase by 70% to 65 million tons by 2020, according consultancy firm SIA Energy. Chinese imports represented a 46% increase in 2017 at a record 38.1 million tons.
Qatar is the world’s biggest LNG producer, and is looking for buyers for its planned output expansion.
