Bangladesh's state-owned gas company PetroBangla will sign a 15-year deal with QatarEnergy on Thursday to buy two million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually.
PetroBangla chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker said on Tuesday, "Under the new deal with Qatar, the LNG will be supplied from January 2026," according to Reuters.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that QatarEnergy would sign a long-term LNG supply deal with an Asian entity.
The agreement will be one of many to come in 2023 as state-owned QatarEnergy secures sales for its mega expansion of North Field, a source with direct knowledge of the new contract agreement, who did not wish to be identified, said.
Qatar is the world's top LNG exporter, and competition for LNG has ramped up since the start of the Ukraine war, with Europe, in particular, needing vast amounts to help replace Russian pipeline gas that used to make up almost 40 percent of the continent's imports.
But Asia has been far ahead in securing gas from Qatar's massive production expansion project.
The contract will be QatarEnergy's second to Asia since it started selling the gas expected to come onstream from the North Field expansion project.
The two-phase expansion plan will raise Qatar's liquefaction capacity to 126 million tons annually by 2027 from 77 million.
Qatar's first Asian deal with Sinopec, the longest to be signed at 27 years for the supply of four million tons a year, was followed by the state-owned Chinese company taking a five percent stake in the equivalent of one North Field East LNG train.
QatarEnergy's sales and purchase agreements to supply Germany with around two million tons of LNG annually through a partnership with ConocoPhillips cover at least 15 years.
The North Field expansion project will help guarantee long-term supplies of gas globally. North Field is part of the world's biggest gas field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its share South Pars.
QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi said last week there was significant demand for LNG and that by the end of the year, he expects to have signed supply deals for all the gas expected to come on stream from the North Field expansion.
