Shell Joins Qatar’s LNG Expansion Mega-Project

Shell Joins Qatar’s LNG Expansion Mega-Project

QatarEnergy on Tuesday signed a deal with Shell for the Gulf state's North Field East expansion, the first phase of the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, following agreements with TotalEnergies, Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Eni.

Shell will take a 6.25% stake in the North Field East expansion project, QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi told a news conference.

TotalEnergies and Exxon will also hold 6.25% stakes.

Shell is the final oil major to partner with QatarEnergy in the first and largest phase of the nearly $30 billion expansion which will boost Qatar's position as the world's top LNG exporter.

The partnership comes as Russia went ahead and seized control of one of the world's largest LNG projects - Sakhalin-2 - in which Shell has a 27.5% minus one share stake.

Shell, which has written off the value of its Russian assets, made clear months ago it intended to quit Sakhalin-2 and has been in talks with potential buyers.

In Qatar, oil majors have been bidding for four trains - or liquefaction and purification facilities - that comprise the North Field East project.

In all, the expansion plan includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar's liquefaction capacity to 126 million tons per annum (mtpa) from 77 by