Total Edges Closer to LNG Deal

Qatar's Qatargas venture expects to sign a MoU with France's Total on the production and export of 5 million tons per year from an expanded Qatargas-2 project within the next few weeks, but did not reach agreement as expected during this week's LNG 14 conference in Doha .

Qatargas Vice Chairman and Managing Director Faisal al-Suwaidi told journalists on the sidelines of LNG 14 that the companies were "almost there," and that the stumbling blocks are "very small and not a showstopper."

The deal still revolves around Total joining a third Qatargas-2 train, sized at 7.5 million tons/yr, and exporting the output to the US and Europe. Shareholdings have not yet been determined. Al-Suwaidi earlier indicated that Total might also join Qatargas-2's second train, taking a role in the full production chain.