Taiwan's CPC buys into Qatar LNG plant

Taipei: Taiwan's state-run CPC Corporation has bought a five per cent stake in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility in Qatar, Qatari newspapers reported on Sunday.
Qatar, the world's largest exporter of gas chilled to its liquid form, and CPC have also signed an agreement to invest together in other joint energy projects, Qatar's Gulf Times reported on Sunday.
CPC Corp bought the five per cent stake in Qatar's Rasgas train 5, The Peninsula newspaper reported. The train, an industry term for an LNG production facility, has capacity to produce 4.7 million tonnes per year.
CPC already has a 25-year agreement to purchase 3 million tonnes per year of LNG from Rasgas. CPC is Taiwan's sole gas importer.
Taiwan's demand for LNG was expected to total some 9.4 million tonnes per year in 2008, and to rise to 16 million by 2020.
Before the transaction, state-owned Qatar Petroleum held 70 per cent of Rasgas, while Exxon Mobil held the rest.
Newspapers did not detail shareholdings after the deal. Qatar sits on the world's third-largest gas reserves and plans to boost its LNG output capacity to 77 million tonnes per year in 2010 from around 38 million tonnes per year in 2008.
Qatar's LNG is produced by two companies, Rasgas and Qatargas. Both are majority owned by Qatar Petroleum. [22/9/08]

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