Cnooc, Qatar Petroleum Sign Gas Exploration Agreement

Cnooc Ltd., China’s third-biggest oil company, signed a 25-year agreement with Qatar Petroleum to search for gas offshore in its first exploration venture in the Middle East.

The agreement includes drilling three wells in five years. Qatar also will discuss providing additional liquefied-natural gas to the Chinese company, the country’s oil minister, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, said at a ceremony in Doha today.

Qatar, which has the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves, is the world’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas with plans to nearly double production to 77 million tons annually by next year.

Cnooc plans to invest $100 million to implement the exploration agreement, said Fu Chengyu, the company’s chairman. China will import the first LNG in October and will need 40 million to 60 million tons a year by 2020, he said.END