*The sales agreement covers supply of an annual total of 200,000 tonnes of light naphtha to Japan’s Marubeni Corporation from January 2019

Qatar Petroleum has concluded a five-year sales agreement to supply Japan’s Marubeni Corporation an annual total of 200,000 tonnes of light naphtha starting from January 2019.

The deal was executed for and on behalf of Qatar Petroleum for the Sale of Petroleum Products Company (QPSPP).

The agreement is the third such one to be concluded with Marubeni since both parties started their naphtha business together over three decades ago.

The previous two long-term naphtha sales agreements with Marubeni were concluded in 2018.

HE the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, also president and CEO of QP, said, “We are pleased to sign the third naphtha long-term sales agreement with Marubeni Corporation. This agreement does not just strengthen our relations with Marubeni, but also reflects our strengthened ability to produce and export naphtha to the Asian market safely and reliably.”

Al-Kaabi said, “Our co-operation with Marubeni is decades old. We have built a trusted relationship together across the energy spectrum, and we will continue to work with them and all our business partners to increase Qatar’s global energy footprint.”

Fumiya Kokubu, president and CEO and member, board of Marubeni Corporation, said, “Qatar Petroleum and Marubeni Corporation are strategic partners who continue to find ways to co-operate together in the energy industry.

“This latest naphtha sales agreement, being part of the three recently concluded long-term naphtha deals, affirms the high level of trust and co-operation as the cornerstone of the relationship between our organisations, and will enable both organisations to deliver a reliable and quality product. With our strong mutual understanding, I am confident that we will have even more opportunities to work together with Qatar Petroleum.”

QP and Marubeni have a long-standing strategic partnership through several shared investments in the energy industry.

This includes Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited (Qatargas 1), which produces and exports about 10mn tonnes of LNG per year, and the two Ras Laffan-based condensate refineries, Laffan Refinery 1 and 2, which have a combined daily processing capacity of 292,000 barrels.

In addition, Marubeni and QP are investors in the Qatar-based 2000-MW independent power plant, the Mesaieed Power Company Ltd (MPCL).

Marubeni is the largest petrochemical feedstock trading entity and aggregator in Asia. It has received continuous and stable supplies of various grades of naphtha from Qatar since 1986, which has enabled Marubeni Corporation to reliably supply a variety of end-users in Japan.