Lee scoops gas deal on Qatar visit

DOHA: Qatar signed a 20-year agreement with South Korea for the sale of two million tons of liquefied natural gas a year, during a visit by President Lee Myung-bak to the state.

Qatar’s Ras Laffan is to deliver the annual shipments starting in 2013, in addition to incremental medium-term volumes from 2012 to 2016, the company Resgas said in a statement.

The agreement was signed by Rasgas subsidiary Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co. Limited (3), or RL3, and Korea’s KOGAS, on the day Lee arrived in Qatar, his second stop in a Gulf tour following a visit to Saudi Arabia.

The two countries already have two long-term LNG purchase agreements, the first dating back to 1995 under which Qatar delivers 4.9 million tons annually (Mta), and the second signed in 2007 for 2.1 Mta.

Qatar is the top natural gas exporter to South Korea, accounting for 23.7 percent of the country’s entire natural gas imports, according to a presidential statement released ahead of Lee’s visit.

The small emirate, which holds the world’s third-largest gas reserves, last year celebrated raising its production capacity for LNG to 77 Mta, boosting its position as the world’s largest producer.

Lee arrived in Doha for talks on oil supplies and construction projects for the 2022 World Cup finals to be held in Qatar, according to an interview with a local daily.