Source : BRICS NEWS
DOHA, October 22, 2026 – Qatar has agreed to import four million tonnes of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year in a long-term deal running until 2054, BRICS News reported, in a move that will see one of the world’s biggest LNG exporters become a buyer of American gas.
BRICS News reported the agreement in a post on X, saying Qatar had signed a deal to import 4 million tonnes of US LNG per year until 2054.
State-owned QatarEnergy announced on October 22 that it had signed two sale and purchase agreements with US LNG producer Cheniere Energy for a combined 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), Anadolu Agency reported. Under the deals, QatarEnergy will purchase 2 mtpa from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction facility in Louisiana and another 2 mtpa from its Corpus Christi facility in Texas.
Deliveries are scheduled to run from 2031 to 2054 on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, meaning QatarEnergy will take ownership of the cargoes at the US terminals and arrange its own shipping. The gas will be priced against the US Henry Hub benchmark plus a fixed liquefaction fee. One million tonnes per annum of the Sabine Pass volume is subject to a final investment decision on the facility’s expansion phase.
The agreements were signed by Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs and QatarEnergy President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, and Cheniere President and CEO Jack Fusco. “This major long-term purchase will expand and diversify our global LNG portfolio and advance our ability to meet the evolving requirements of the market,” Al-Kaabi said in a statement.
Cheniere is the largest LNG producer in the United States, with total production capacity of about 56 mtpa across its Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi sites, according to the company. The Qatari agreements add to a long list of long-term contracts the company has signed with buyers in Europe and Asia, underpinning further expansion of its export terminals on the US Gulf Coast.
With first deliveries due in 2031 and the contracts running through 2054, the agreements will see QatarEnergy lift US cargoes for well over two decades, giving it a long-term source of supply outside the Gulf alongside its own production.
The deal comes as the conflict involving Iran continues to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the route through which Qatar’s own LNG exports leave the Gulf. Qatar is one of the world’s largest LNG exporters, and securing US-sourced volumes loaded on the US Gulf Coast gives QatarEnergy cargoes that do not depend on passage through the strait to reach customers in Europe and Asia.
QatarEnergy has in recent years built up a global trading portfolio alongside its domestic production, seeking to supply customers from multiple locations. Long-term contracts linked to Henry Hub have become a common feature of US LNG deals, offering buyers prices tied to the US gas market rather than to oil.
The agreements also strengthen energy ties between Qatar and the United States, at a time when Washington has been promoting US energy exports to partners around the world and Gulf producers are looking to diversify their supply chains amid regional instability.
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