(EnergyAsia, June 18 2012, Monday) — Qatargas Operating Company Limited (Qatargas) said subsidiary Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited (Qatargas 1) has secured a new long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales agreement (SPA) with Japan’s largest LNG buyer, Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated (TEPCO).

Under the first long-term bilateral agreement between the two companies, Qatargas 1 will deliver one million tonnes per annum (MTA) of LNG starting this year.

Combined with existing contracts, Qatargas will supply a total of approximately two million tonnes of LNG to TEPCO in 2012. This is equivalent to about 5% of Qatargas’ total production capacity).

The latest agreement was signed by Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry and Qatargas chairman, and Takao Arai, TEPCO’s managing director, in Doha.
 
TEPCO is among eight Japanese companies which signed a multi-party contract with the Qatargas 1 venture in 1994.

Qatargas began delivering LNG to Japan and TEPCO in 1997 when its Qatargas 1 plant came onstream.

Qatargas was established in 1984, with shareholders of Qatargas 1 joint venture as Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Total, Mitsui and Marubeni.