Qatargas to increase LNG supplies to CNOOC

His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister of The State of Qatar and the Minister of Energy and Industry who was in Beijing to attend the opening of Qatargas' Representative Office in the People's Republic of China witnessed the signing of the MoU by Mr. Fu Chengyu, President of CNOOC, and Mr. Faisal M. Al Suwaidi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Qatargas.

Under the terms of the MoU, Qatargas intends to supply an additional three million tonnes of LNG per annum to CNOOC commencing in 2013. In addition to this base volume, Qatargas and CNOOC will contemplate the sale and purchase of an additional two million tonnes per annum of LNG.

These volumes combined with an existing long-term supply commitment of two million tonnes of LNG agreed under a Sales and Purchase Agreement signed in 2008 will potentially take the total volume of the Qatari LNG to be supplied to CNOOC to seven million tonnes per annum. As noted by His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah "China is the centre today of the new LNG compass".

Mr. Faisal M. Al Suwaidi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Qatargas, said:

"I am extremely excited that we are able to announce the strengthening of our relationship with CNOOC on the same day we have celebrated the opening of our Representative Office in the People's Republic of China."

"Only last month we celebrated the arrival of Qatari LNG to China with CNOOC at an unloading ceremony held at the Dapeng Terminal, Guangdong Province. This event marked the first time that one of Qatargas' state-of-the-art Q-Flex LNG carriers delivered LNG to China and represented the beginning of long-term stable LNG supplies from the State of Qatar to the People's Republic of China," he added.

Mr. Fu Chengyu, President of CNOOC, said, it's another milestone in the expanding partnership between CNOOC and Qatargas, which will substantially help bring closer energy cooperation between the two countries. We are happy that CNOOC and Qatargas have built up mutual understanding and trust and we are confident to import more clean energy to fuel economic growth and improve environment in China."

The State of Qatar is now the world's largest LNG producer and anticipates that China will become one of the world's largest gas markets.