QatarEnergy will buy up to 3 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas from Woodside Energy’s Louisiana LNG project for 20 years, the companies announced on Thursday, in a deal that makes the Qatari state company the largest buyer of US LNG.
Woodside will supply the cargoes on a free on board basis from its share of the project’s volumes, starting with the commissioning of Train 2 and rising to the full 3 million tonnes a year once Train 3 starts. The foundation project near Lake Charles, Louisiana has three trains with combined capacity of 16.5 million tonnes a year and is targeting first LNG in 2029, with deliveries under this contract expected from 2030.
Woodside chief executive Liz Westcott called the agreement a strong vote of confidence in Louisiana LNG and a significant step in building the project’s long term customer base, following an earlier supply deal with Uniper. QatarEnergy said the volumes strengthen its global supply and trading portfolio, alongside its Golden Pass LNG project and other US purchases, and place it in a stronger position to meet growing global LNG needs.
The deal lands while QatarEnergy’s own deliveries remain disrupted. The company extended force majeure on its LNG deliveries to the end of December 2026 this week, and it has been buying US cargoes to serve customers its Gulf loadings cannot reach.