Qatargas to supply LNG to Centrica

 DUBAI—Qatargas said on Saturday it signed a 2.4 million tonnes per year three year contract to supply liquefied natural gas to Britain's Centrica. “As per the agreement, Qatargas will deliver up to 2.4 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the Qatargas 4 project to the UK Isle of Grain Terminal for the next three years,” it said in a statement. The sales and purchase agreement concludes an original agreement reached in February. The contact is Centrica’s first long-term contract to buy liquefied natural gas from the world’s biggest LNG exporter.

Qatargas is Britain’s biggest LNG supplier through its South Hook import terminal in Wales, and the contract to supply Britain’s biggest energy retailer boosts the small Middle Eastern country’s share in Europe's biggest gas market. Britain expanded its LNG receiving capacity last year, largely to reduce dependence on gas from the North Sea, and has steadily increased imports of the liquefied fuel which is warmed back to gas before being pumped into the network. The 4 million therms of gas to be delivered could meet a tenth of total UK annual residential gas demand and a quarter of British Gas sales, Centrica, which owns British Gas, said in February. (Reuters)