Qatar Secures Second Major Gas Supply Deal With China

Qatar signed a 27 year liquefied natural gas supply agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation, its second major gas deal with a Chinese state owned firm within twelve months and a sign of its deepening role as a preferred supplier to Beijing.

QatarEnergy and CNPC concluded the accord on Tuesday, setting annual purchases of four million metric tonnes of LNG and granting CNPC a 5 percent equity stake in one production train that has a capacity of eight million tonnes a year.

The arrangement follows a comparable November 2022 agreement between QatarEnergy and Sinopec for four million tonnes annually over 27 years, and it marks the third such Asian supply deal tied to Qatar's North Field expansion.

Energy Minister Saad al Kaabi said the agreements would further strengthen ties with one of the most important gas markets in the world.

The deals reflect China's push to secure long term energy supplies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensified global competition for LNG, particularly as European nations sought alternatives to Russian pipeline gas.

The North Field expansion, in which QatarEnergy retains a 75 percent stake, requires a minimum investment of $30 billion and underpins Qatar's standing as the world's top LNG exporter.

Beijing bought certainty; Tehran took some of it back. Iranian missiles struck Ras Laffan in March 2026, damaging two of Qatar's 14 LNG trains and sidelining 12.8 million tonnes a year, about 17 percent of export capacity, and QatarEnergy declared force majeure on long term contracts including Chinese ones, per Al Jazeera. Repairs run three to five years at an estimated $20 billion a year in lost revenue. Italy's Edison alone has lost 21 cargoes through early September, and the Asian benchmark JKM sat at $15.52 in late June against $10.70 before the war, per CNBC. CNPC's four million tonnes a year now depends on repair crews and a 60 day ceasefire; watch whether Hormuz stays open when it lapses.