Qatar is set to become the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to the huge Chinese market, according to Fu Cheng Yu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).
“China will soon become the largest LNG market in the world. That is why as the world’s largest LNG supplier, Qatar should have its market share in China matching its supply capacity,” Fu Cheng Yu told reporters here on Monday evening.
He was speaking at the signing ceremony of a 25-year Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) for Qatar offshore Block ‘BC’ (Pre-Khuff) between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and CNOOC Middle East (Qatar) Ltd, a subsidiary of CNOOC. “Together with QP and Qatargas, we are confident that Qatar will have the largest market share of LNG in China compared to any other supplier around the world. If we both work together properly, I have full confidence that for the next 5 to 10 years you will see Qatar’s largest LNG market will be China,” said Fu Cheng Yu. CNOOC alone would need to import from 40 million tonnes to some 60 million tonnes of LNG by 2020, according to company estimates, he said.
He added that China’s demand for energy is continuously increasing and it is poised to become the world’s largest market and that CNOOC is keen to become a bridge to assist Qatar achieve its goals in China in a variety of fields from upstream to downstream, and from oil to LNG.
“We have witnessed the fastest growing expansion of our cooperation between the two nations as well as between CNOOC and QP,” Fu Cheng Yu said.
In June 2008 CNOOC reached an agreement for Qatargas to supply two million tonnes of LNG per year to its terminals for 25 years. The first cargo will be delivered to China on October this year which will mark Qatargas’ formal entry into the Chinese market.
“Besides, in March this year we set up an office in Doha for the first time in the Gulf region. With this CNOOC strategic move, we have every reason to believe that the agreement (the EPSA) we signed today will alleviate our cooperation into a new height,” said Fu Cheng Yu.
“Overall recovery from the global crisis calls for more actions. The global economy is in fundamental reshaping and we have determined to build up strategic partnership in the energy field with Qatar. With the win-win principle we will expand our cooperation to include upstream, exploration and development, marketing, LNG and other fields in which that both have interest. Together with QP, we look forward to expanding our business both here in Doha, in China and elsewhere in the world.”
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=September2009&file=Local_News2009090225818.xml
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