QatarEnergy to Buy Up to 3 Million Tonnes of U.S. LNG a Year Under 20-Year Deal
Key Facts
QatarEnergy has agreed with Woodside to buy up to 3 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year for 20 years under a long-term supply deal from the U.S. Louisiana project. QatarEnergy said deliveries are expected in 2030 and will continue for 20 years from the start of supply. The company described the additional purchases as bolstering its global supply and trading portfolio and positioning it more strongly to meet growing global demand for LNG. The agreement adds a long-term U.S. source to its purchases at a time when global gas supplies are affected by shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz. Buying the volumes does not mean QatarEnergy owns or controls the project's output; the deal remains a commercial supply agreement.
The agreement is based on the Louisiana LNG project, which comprises 3 trains in its foundation phase with total capacity of 16.5 million tonnes a year. Woodside is targeting first LNG production from the project in 2029, a year before deliveries to QatarEnergy are expected to begin. The company said the project aims to provide sustainable revenue for a material portion of Louisiana production, alongside its agreement with QatarEnergy and a previous deal with Uniper. That places QatarEnergy's contract among the arrangements to market output before the project starts up. The maximum contracted volume remains tied to the agreed supply term, while Woodside's disclosure did not say that QatarEnergy deliveries would begin in stages as the project's trains come online.
The Woodside deal follows two supply agreements signed by Cheniere subsidiaries with QatarEnergy, for a total of up to 4 million tonnes a year through 2054. The agreements provide for purchases of 2 million tonnes a year from each of the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi facilities. Deliveries are expected to begin in the early 2030s, after Woodside's expected start of supply in 2030. One million tonnes a year under the Sabine Pass agreement remains conditional, among other things, on a positive final investment decision. The differing start dates and conditions show that the announced volumes come from separate projects and contracts and will not all arrive at the same time.
QatarEnergy is seeking long-term supplies from the United States and other producers as part of a trading strategy to address the risk of gas exports being disrupted through the Strait of Hormuz, its chief executive said in comments reported by Reuters. Saad al-Kaabi said closing the strait could immediately push gas prices higher, allowing the company to generate revenue that would offset some of its losses. Reuters previously reported that QatarEnergy halted LNG production in early March after Iranian missile attacks and declared force majeure to affected buyers on March 4. Kaabi also said the company had extended force majeure through the end of 2026, and that Qatar accounts for about one-fifth of global LNG exports, which pass through the strait. He also said QatarEnergy expects additional long-term supply agreements with U.S. and other producers during the year, with terms ranging from 20 to 25 years.
The agreement coincided with growth in U.S. LNG exports, which averaged 17.4 billion cubic feet a day in the first half of 2026, up 23% from the same period in 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency attributed the increase to production starting at new terminals and expansions at existing facilities, and said capacity additions lifted exports at the fastest pace since the United States began large-scale exports in 2016. It said disruptions to LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in March cut 20% of global supplies, most of them from Qatar, and helped double U.S. shipments to Asia in the first half of the year compared with the same period a year earlier. The agency expects exports to average 17.3 billion cubic feet a day in the second half of 2026, then rise to 18.7 billion in the first half of 2027. On the day the agreement was announced, Woodside shares closed up 1.9% at 32.74 Australian dollars.