Qatargas, Kansai sign MoU

Qatargas will supply 7.5mn tonnes of liquefied natural gas over a 15-year period from 2013 to Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company (Kepco) under a new long term sales and purchase agreement concluded between the two companies.Under the terms of the deal, which is the first long-term bilateral agreement between the Japanese company and Qatargas 3, which will deliver 500,000 tonnes per year of LNG to Kepco from next year.The agreement was signed in Doha by HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, also Qatargas chairman, in the presence of Yoichi Mukae, Kepco executive director.Kepco, the second largest electricity company in Japan, is one of the original eight Japanese buyers which signed a multi-party contract with Qatargas 1 in 1994. The delivery of LNG to Japan and Kepco under this contract started in 1997.Speaking on the occasion, al-Sada said, “Qatar continues to contribute towards global energy security, in line with the vision of HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. “Today’s agreement reinforces our strong relationship with one of Qatargas’ foundation customers and demonstrates our continued commitment to supply LNG to Japan for the long-term.“As the largest LNG producing company in the world, Qatargas is committed to providing reliable energy supplies to all four corners of the world.”Qatargas CEO Khalid bin Khalifa al-Thani said: “Today, we have achieved a significant milestone in our excellent partnership with Kepco , which started in 1994 when we signed an agreement with a consortium of Japanese buyers including Kepco.  “This agreement is further testimony of our long-term commitment to Japan and reinforces Qatargas’s global reputation as a safe and reliable supplier of LNG. We remain committed to supporting Japan’s continuous requirement for stable energy supplies.”Kepco executive director Yoichi Mukae said, “In this memorable year of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between the State of Qatar and Japan, we are pleased to execute the new contract with Qatargas, the world’s largest LNG supplier.“We strongly expect this agreement to reinforce the partnership between Qatargas and Kansai Electric and to lead to our stable LNG procurement.”Japan is one of the biggest importers of LNG and this announcement reaffirms the continued partnership between Qatar and Japan since the establishment of diplomatic relations 40 years ago.  When Japan was hit by a strong earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Qatargas successfully demonstrated its reliability and flexibility to supply several Japanese utility companies with large and critical volumes of LNG to compensate for the shut down of their nuclear power plants. Earlier this year, on June 11, 2012, Qatargas 1 had executed a similar long-term deal with Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco). Qatargas said it looks forward for further new long-term deals with Japanese buyers.