H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada and Yoichi Mukae exchanging documents in Doha yesterday.
Doha: Qatargas Operating Company Ltd (Qatargas) announced the signing of a new long term liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Kansai Electric Power Company Incorporated (Kepco) of Japan.
The agreement was signed in Doha by H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, the Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman of the Board of Qatargas 3, in the presence of Yoichi Mukae, Executive Director of Kepco.
This is the first long-term bilateral agreement between Kepco and Qatargas 3. Under the terms of the agreement, Qatargas 3 will deliver 0.5 million tonnes per annum (MTA) of LNG for a period of 15 years starting from 2013.
Al Sada said: “The State of Qatar continues to contribute towards global energy security, in line with the vision of the Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Today’s agreement reinforces our strong relationship with one of Qatargas’ foundation customers and demonstrates our continued commitment to supply LNG to Japan for the long-term. As the largest LNG-producing company in the world, Qatargas is committed to providing reliable energy supplies to all four corners of the world.”
Qatargas Chief Executive Officer Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani said: “Today, we have achieved a significant milestone in our excellent partnership with Kepco, which started in 1994 when we signed an agreement with a consortium of Japanese buyers including Kepco. This agreement is further testimony of our long-term commitment to Japan and reinforces Qatargas’ global reputation as a safe and reliable supplier of LNG. We remain committed to supporting Japan’s continuous requirement for stable energy supplies.”
For his part, Yoichi Mukae, Executive Director, Kepco, said: “In this memorable year of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between the state of Qatar and Japan, we are pleased to execute the new contract with Qatargas, the world’s largest LNG supplier. We strongly expect this agreement to reinforce the partnership between Qatargas and Kansai Electric and to lead to our stable LNG procurement.”
Kepco, the second largest electricity company in Japan, is one of the original eight Japanese buyers which signed a multi-party contract with Qatargas 1 back in 1994. The delivery of LNG to Japan and Kepco under this contract started in 1997. Earlier this year, on June 11, 2012, Qatargas 1 executed a similar long-term deal with Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco).
The Peninsula
