- DOHA: Qatar Petroleum (QP) has signed a 30-year agreement with Japanese company JX Nippon for exploration and production of gas off Qatar’s northeastern coast, QP said.
Exploration will take place in Block A, an area of 6,173 square km off the coast of the Gulf Arab state, the company said.
The agreement is JX Nippon’s first exploration deal in Qatar, Makoto Koseki, the company’s chief executive officer, said at a signing ceremony in the Qatari capital Doha.
JX Nippon. a unit of JX Holdings, pledged an initial investment of $100 million, with the possibility of investing more in the future, Koseki said.
Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, recently reached the capacity to liquefy 77 million tons of natural gas annually.
Qatar has placed a moratorium on new development of the North Field, the source of the gas, until at least 2014.