| | NOVEMBER 20238IN FOCUSQATARENERGY AGREES 27-YEAR LNG SUPPLY DEAL WITH ITALY'S ENISINGAPORE AND SAUDI TO BOOST CORPORATION ON SEVERAL SECTORSQatarEnergy and Eni have agreed to provide up to one million tons of liquefied natural gas to Italy each year. The state-owned petroleum business said that it will provide LNG to the energy giant for the next 27 years, commencing in 2026. The gas will be sourced through their joint venture, which holds an interest in Qatar's North Field East expansion project. LNG will be delivered to FSRU Italia, a floating storage and regasification unit located in the port of Piombino in Italy's Tuscany region, as per arab news."Today, we are taking another important step in strengthening our partnership with Eni that will foster our cooperation for many years to come," said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar's minister of state for energy affairs. Al-Kaabi, who is also the president and CEO of QatarEnergy, added: "This agreement further builds on Eni's first entry in the upstream sector in the state of Qatar through our partnership in the historic North Field East expansion project." Qatar has been one of Italy's most important LNG suppliers. Qatari LNG has been arriving at the Adriatic LNG facility in the northern Adriatic since 2009, meeting more than 10percent of Italy's natural gas consumption. Earlier this month, QatarEnergy signed a new contract with TotalEnergies of France to deliver up to 3.5 million tons of LNG per year for the next 27 years. QatarEnergy said that LNG quantities to France will be obtained through their two joint ventures with TotalEnergies, both of which have stakes in Qatar's northeastern oil resources. Mitsui & Co., a Japanese trading firm, announced earlier this month that it is exploring purchasing a share in Qatar's North Field LNG expansion project to assure a steady supply of LNG. Singapore and Saudi Arabia have decided to elevate their relations to the level of strategic cooperation, according to the foreign ministries of both nations. Both nations stated in a joint statement issued during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's official visit to the kingdom that such a partnership would allow for the development and extension of mutually beneficial collaboration in all sectors.PM Lee also wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday: "This will be Singapore's first with a Middle East country, and will deepen our cooperation across many fields."He was received by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday, and both leaders reviewed relations between their countries and means to deepen them in all areas, the statement said. He conveyed his appreciation to Crown Prince Mohammed for the support of Singaporean pilgrims performing the haj, as per straitstimes.Singapore also backed Saudi Arabia's bid to host the World Cup in 2034. During the visit, both parties praised the Saudi-Singapore Joint Committee, which convened its third session in Riyadh on October 17. The statement also underlined the key areas of disagreement between the two parties. In the economic, trade, and investment spheres, they welcomed a 51percent increase in the value of bilateral commerce in 2022 over 2021.They emphasized the need of working together to strengthen and diversify bilateral commerce by using and improving the Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free commerce Agreement, as well as expanding partnerships between their corporate sectors in a variety of disciplines. Energy, the digital economy, financial services, agriculture and food sectors, and transportation and logistics are among them.
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