Qatar has announced a major new contract with the French major.
The announcement is timely to support the demonstration that the CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, is preparing to unfold in front of investors on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York. TotalEnergies is not just Russia, he should insist. It is even less and less Russia. “We expect TotalEnergies to emphasize the question ‘What does the group look like post-Russia?’, highlighting its growth operations in other regions of the world”explains Biraj Borkhataria, associate director of European research at RBC.
As proof, therefore, TotalEnergies signed on Saturday a new investment of 1.5 billion dollars with one of the very first producers of liquefied natural gas in the world, Qatar. “QatarEnergy (QE) has selected TotalEnergies as the first foreign partner for the development of the North Field South (NFS) natural gas field”, says the Qatari oil giant. TotalEnergies’ participation in this project is 9.375%, while Qatar has set the total share of foreign companies at 25%.
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For TotalEnergies, this is the second LNG investment with the emirate unveiled this year, after the one announced in June for more than 2 billion dollars. The Frenchman was the first partner announced on this contract for the North Field East, toasting the politeness to the American giant ExxonMobil. According to the Qataris, North Field is the largest gas field in the world, with reserves estimated at 10% of known world reserves.
Boom you GNL Qatari
Present for about thirty years in the country, the Frenchman has positioned himself to benefit from the very strong growth expected in the coming years in the production of Qatari LNG. The emirate wants to increase its gas production by 60% by 2027. TotalEnergies “will have a reinforced strategic role” in gas development in Qatar, assures the Minister of Energy and CEO of QatarEnergy (QE), Saad Sherida al-Kaabi.
In addition to its investments in the emirate, TotalEnergies should strengthen in the coming months in the other giant of LNG, the United States. The major should validate there next year the extension of the Cameron LNG plant, which it co-owns alongside the American Sempra and Japanese groups. The group already presents itself as the leading US LNG exporter thanks to its long-term contracts and its shares in liquefaction plants.
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Patrick Pouyanné unfolds the strategy he has developed for the group: more renewables and above all more LNG, whose sales he wants to double by 2030 so that it represents half of its mix. Enough to compensate for the 30% drop in oil sales by the end of the decade.
However, some projects are going less well than expected. The construction of the Arctic LNG 2 LNG plant in Russia is on hold, blocked by European sanctions, even if the first plant, Yamal, continues to operate. In addition, the group was forced, in April 2021, to declare force majeure to freeze the construction of its gas liquefaction plant in northern Mozambique, after the irruption of jihadists in the region.
However, TotalEnergies will not abandon oil exploitation. It is currently constructing the wells and infrastructures necessary for the exploitation of a new oil field in Uganda. He also announced last February a “significant discovery”offshore Namibia, as part of its offshore oil exploration campaign in the Orange Basin. Project for which the French group is also associated with QatarEnergy.
SEE ALSO – Qatar: TotalEnergies chosen to develop the largest gas field in the world