QatarEnergy to sign long-term LNG supply deal with Bangladesh

QatarEnergy will sign a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply deal with Bangladesh's state-owned gas company Petrobangla on Thursday, the second Asian sales deal to be sealed for Qatar's North Field expansion project.

The 15-year agreement is for the supply of 2 million tonnes annually, Petrobangla's Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker told Reuters.

Supplies are set to start in January 2026, he said.

The agreement will be one of many to come this year as state-owned QatarEnergy secures sales for its mega expansion of North Field, a source with direct knowledge of the new contract agreement, who did not wish to be identified, said.

Qatar is the world's top LNG exporter and competition for LNG has ramped up since the start of the Ukraine war, with Europe in particular needing vast amounts to help replace Russian pipeline gas that used to make up almost 40% of the continent's imports.

But Asia, with an appetite for long-term sales and purchase agreements, has been ahead so far in securing gas from Qatar's massive production expansion project.

This will be Bangladesh's second long-term deal with Qatar as it desperately looks for long-term LNG deals at a cheaper rate after prices spiked following the Ukraine war last year.

The contract will be QatarEnergy's second to Asia since it started selling the gas expected to come on stream from the North Field expansion project.

The two-phase expansion plan will raise Qatar's liquefaction capacity to 126 million tonnes per year by 2027 from 77 million.

Qatar's first Asian deal, with Sinopec, the longest to be signed at 27 years for the supply of 4 million tonnes a year, was followed by the state-owned Chinese company taking a 5% stake in the equivalent of one North Field East LNG train.

QatarEnergy's sales and purchase agreements to supply Germany with around 2 million tonnes of LNG annually through a partnership with ConocoPhillips cover at least a 15-year period.

Sarker would not comment on the price of Bangladesh's new deal, saying it was confidential.

Bangladesh has a 10-year LNG import deal with Oman Trading International. That LNG is priced at 11.9% of the three-month average price of Brent crude oil plus a constant price of 40 cents per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

Under its first 15-year deal with Qatar, Bangladesh pays 12.65% of the three-month average price of Brent oil plus a constant of 50 cents per mmBtu.

The North Field expansion project will help guarantee long-term supplies of gas globally. North Field is part of the world's biggest gas field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its share South Pars.

QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi said last week there was big demand for LNG and that he expects by the end of the year to have signed supply deals for all the gas expected to come on stream from the North Field expansion.

(Reporting by Maha El Dahan in Dubai and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, David Holmes and Susan Fenton)