Italy's Eni forms gas joint venture with QatarEnergy

Rome — Italian energy firm Eni SpA and QatarEnergy have announced a partnership to exploit gas in the Gulf state's North Field East (NFE).

The companies entered into a partnership deal to form a new joint venture. QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest while Eni the remaining 25% interest.

The JV will hold 12.5% interest in the entire NFE project, including the 4 mega liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains with a combined capacity of 32 million tons per annum or MTPA.

The NFE project, a $28.75 billion investment, will expand Qatar's LNG export capacity to 110 MTPA from the current 77 MTPA.

NFE is expected to start production before the end of 2025.

The agreement marks the completion of a competitive process started in 2019 and has a duration of 27 years.

Eni said the deal is a strategic move, and will expand its presence in the Middle East.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said: "As a newcomer joining this world leading LNG project, we feel the privilege and the responsibility of being a strategic partner of choice for the State of Qatar.

"This agreement is a significant milestone for Eni and fits our objective to diversify into cleaner and more reliable energy sources in line with our decarbonization strategy."

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