Qatar's Kaabi says in discussions with China, India for additional LNG sales

Qatar's Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said May 20 that Doha was in talks with Chinese and Indian LNG buyers for the purchase of additional Qatari LNG volumes.

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, Kaabi -- who is also QatarEnergy CEO -- said he would meet with Chinese LNG buyers when he visits Beijing for the World Gas Conference on May 21.

"After this, I'm flying to China, and I'm meeting all the buyers in China," Kaabi said.

"We have a great relationship with China -- we are the largest supplier to China, and they are the biggest buyer by far from Qatar," he said. "They are discussing with us additional volume," he added.

A deal involving Qatar and China was said to be possible during the Beijing conference, a Singapore-based trader said last week.

So far in 2025, Qatar has supplied some 36.5 million mt of LNG to global markets, with China taking some 8.4 million mt -- or almost a quarter of total exports -- according to data from S&P Global Energy.

The next biggest buyer is India, which has bought some 5.1 million mt of Qatari LNG so far this year, the data showed.

Kaabi said Qatar was in talks with Indian buyers on delivering more LNG. "India is discussing with us additional volume," he said.

However, he said, Qatar had "multiple" countries that are in talks with Doha about supplying additional volumes.

"These negotiations take time," he added.

Kaabi also said there were always "sticking points" in negotiations. "Everyone always wants a better deal from both sides," he added.

The talks come as spot LNG prices remain high.

The Platts JKM, the benchmark price reflecting LNG delivered to Northeast Asia, was assessed at $11.96/MMBtu on May 19. Platts is part of Energy.

Trading arm

Kaabi also said that QatarEnergy's trading arm, QatarEnergy Trading, was currently trading some 10 million mt/year of physical LNG. He added that of this, more than 50% is non-Qatari volume.

He added that by 2030, Qatar aimed to grow the portfolio to include more non-Qatari volume.

"The ambition is by 2030 to reach somewhere in the range of 30 million-40 million mt of non-Qatari LNG traded by our trading group," he said.

Kaabi also said that, including its Golden Pass project in the US, Qatar would ultimately be participating in projects with a capacity of some 160 million mt/year.

Qatar's North Field expansion will increase Qatar's own LNG production capacity to 142 million mt/year from 77 million mt/year currently, while Golden Pass has a capacity of 18 million mt/year.

"We're going to start our LNG exports by the end of this year and really start full production sometime in the next year," Kaabi said.

"We will be exporters from the US. The US volumes are going to go to certain markets, mostly Europe and South America," he added.

The additional Qatari volumes, meanwhile, will predominantly serve Asia, he said.

"But in general, we need all that volume," he said to meet growing global LNG demand, referring to the additional LNG from Qatar and the US.

Kaabi added that the expanded LNG volume from the North Field expansion would not all be locked into long-term contracts, freeing up volumes for sale on the spot market.

Asked whether Qatar remained committed to oil indexation in its LNG sales, Kaabi said Qatar also produced oil and condensate, adding that if oil prices fell, it would impact a range of commodities, including petrochemicals, oil and gas.

Kaabi also warned of the impact of lower oil prices on global investments. "If oil prices decline below $60/b, there definitely is going to be a decline in investment -- worldwide," he said.