A high-level delegation of Qatar Petroleum, led by its president and chief executive Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, will have talks with Japanese energy companies as part of the country's efforts to enhance the existing cooperation and business relations.
Meetings during the visit will include discussions with chairmen, presidents, and senior executives of Chubu Electric, Jera, Mitsui, Chiyoda Corporation, Idemitsu, Cosmo Oil Company, LNG Japan, Mitsui and Marubeni Corporation.
Meetings are also scheduled with financial institutions such as Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi and Japan Bank for International Cooperation; utility companies such as Tokyo Electric (TEPCO), Kansai Electric, and Tohoku Electric; and other major firms and shipping lines such as NYK Line, Lino, MOL, K Line, and Itochu.
Al-Kaabi, who is also the chairman of Qatargas, is accompanied by senior officials of QP and Qatargas.
The visit is part of an annual tradition that connects QP and Qatargas with a wide spectrum of clients and partners in Japan. It is designed to follow up on all issues that relate to the existing cooperation and business relationships and ways to enhance them, a spokesman of the country's hydrocarbon behemoth said.
"Such relations lie at the heart of Qatari-Japanese ties, in which energy occupies a very special place. Collaboration in the field of natural gas has a special significance in the matrix of relations with Japan, which was Qatar’s founding LNG customer," he said.
Qatar’s first LNG shipment, from Qatargas, arrived at the shores of Japan in January 1997 under the first ever binding LNG supply contract signed between Chubu Electric and seven other Japanese buyers and Qatargas.
Qatargas will host a reception for Japanese partners, clients and contracting companies, which is also part of that annual tradition to pay tribute to the historic business relationships that shape Qatari-Japanese ties today.