QatarEnergy on Track to Become the Largest Buyer of U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas by 2033, Controlling About 23.7 Million Tonnes a Year
London — QatarEnergy, Qatar's state energy company, is on track to control about 23.7 million tonnes a year of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2033, more than any other buyer, according to estimates by the energy research firm Wood Mackenzie reported by the Financial Times on November 4. None of the gas will be shipped to Qatar itself; QatarEnergy will resell it to customers around the world.
The 23.7 million tonnes come from three sources: QatarEnergy's 70 percent stake in the Golden Pass LNG export project in Texas (ExxonMobil holds the rest); an October 22 agreement to buy as much as 4 million tonnes a year from Cheniere Energy through 2054, sourced from the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi plants, priced off the Henry Hub benchmark plus a fixed fee, with deliveries expected from 2031; and an October 29 agreement for as much as 3 million tonnes a year over 20 years from Woodside Energy's Louisiana LNG project, starting in 2030. The two new deals add 7 million tonnes a year.
Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar's energy minister and QatarEnergy's chief executive, said after the October 29 signing that the additional volumes make QatarEnergy the largest buyer of LNG from the United States and put the company in a stronger position to meet growing global demand. Jason Feer, global head of business intelligence at the energy and shipping broker Poten & Partners, told the FT that QatarEnergy will probably strike two or three more U.S. supply agreements. Al-Kaabi said in May 2025 that the company aims to trade 30 to 40 million tonnes a year of non-Qatari LNG by 2030.
Qatar was the world's second-largest LNG exporter before the war (the United States passed it for the top spot in 2023). Its turn to American supply follows the shock of the Iran war: QatarEnergy stopped producing LNG in early March after Iranian missile strikes and notified affected buyers of force majeure on March 4; by October its shipments had recovered to only about one-third of prewar levels. Every Qatari cargo must cross the Strait of Hormuz, and the company needs supply from outside the strait to honor its contracts with customers worldwide.
(Source: Financial Times)
Source: Financial Times
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于得克萨斯州萨宾帕斯的 Golden Pass 液化天然气出口终端（资料图），卡塔尔能源持有该项目70%股份。CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Golden Pass LNG export terminal at Sabine Pass, Texas (file photo); QatarEnergy holds a 70 percent stake in the project. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
