CPC chairman, Ching-Tsai Kuo, confirmed that "the two parties have begun discussions to finalise the Sales and Purchase Agreement," in a statement released soon after having talks with Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal in Doha.
The initial agreement, which was signed in March (and only activated on the proviso that CPC won the Ta-Tan contract), will see RasGas supply CPC with three million tonnes of LNG per annum for 25 years starting from 2008.
In related news, Qatar is set to become the world's largest exporter of LNG … or so say the Kuwaiti-based Global Investment House (GIH).
In a report published by the firm, Qatar will have an annual estimated output of 30 million tonnes of LNG per annum by 2010. GIH bases these numbers on the country's projected capital expenditure of US$25 billion, which will double Qatar's LNG production over the next seven years.
The report also stated that long term contracts already in place will see the country's LNG output rise to around 26 million tonnes per annum by 2005. This figure is nearly double the current capacity.
