皇冠体育app

Energy

Petro皇冠体育app inks Qatar LNG deal

By Wan Zhihong (皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-18 09:20

A Petro皇冠体育app employee inspects natural gas purification equipment in Suining, Sichuan province. 皇冠体育app will need 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2015. [Zhong Min / for 皇冠体育app Daily]

BEIJING - Petro皇冠体育app Co, the country's largest oil and gas producer, has signed an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar Petroleum to explore for natural gas in the Middle Eastern country, part of bid by domestic companies to expand to their gas portfolio.

Under a 30-year exploration and production sharing agreement, the partners will jointly explore for natural gas in an area covering 8,089 square kilometers. Shell will hold a 75 percent stake in the project and Petro皇冠体育app the remaining 25 percent, Petro皇冠体育app said in a statement.

Shell and Petro皇冠体育app will produce natural gas under Qatar Petroleum's supervision. According to the agreement the Qatari company will be the purchaser of any gas produced, said the statement.

Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry Abdulla bin Hamad Al-Attiyah said that Shell is already a major investor in the development of Qatar's proven gas resources. The country welcomes Petro皇冠体育app, a new investor in Qatar, he said.

Shell is developing significant volumes of Qatar's proven gas resources through its two giant projects with Qatar Petroleum, one gas-to-liquids project and one liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

Zhao Dong, chief financial officer of Petro皇冠体育app International Investment Co Ltd, said: "皇冠体育app is an important downstream market and Petro皇冠体育app is keen to build upstream partnerships with major resource holders like Qatar."

Analysts said that the deal is in line with 皇冠体育app's move to use more natural gas, a clean energy, for the country's energy consumption. 皇冠体育app would need 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2015, doubling the 2008 level, said Liu Xiaoli, a senior researcher at the energy research institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

The nation's annual demand for clean energy will grow to 300 billion cu m by 2020, according to Liu.

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Statistics showed that between 2000 and 2008, 皇冠体育app's annual consumption of natural gas grew 16.2 percent on average, 9.7 percentage points higher than the annual growth rate for oil consumption, or 6.6 percentage points higher than the annual growth rate for coal consumption.

"Natural gas will play a vital role in 皇冠体育app's energy industry in the future," said Han Xiaoping, chief information officer of domestic energy portal 皇冠体育app5e.com, adding that 皇冠体育app should make additional reforms in the sector for faster development.

皇冠体育app is now increasing its imports of natural gas both onshore and offshore. Fu Chengyu, president of 皇冠体育app National Offshore Oil Corp (Cnooc) said earlier that the company had signed long-term supply contracts with domestic and overseas partners for 320 million tons of LNG, equivalent to importing 22 billion cubic meters of LNG annually for 25 years.

The LNG business plays an important role in Cnooc's strategy of developing clean, low-carbon energy, Fu added.

The company last year signed an agreement with Qatargas to buy more LNG from the country to meet rising domestic demand.

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