Kuwait signs long-term deal to import gas from Qatar

State-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp on Sunday signed a long-term contract with Qatar Petroleum to purchase three million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, a statement said.

Kuwait, which is rich in oil but falls short in gas production, is currently importing 2.5 million tonnes of LNG per year from BP, Shell and Qatar Petroleum.

The new agreement will run for 15 years starting in 2022 when the new USD 3 billion LNG receiving terminal at Al-Zour Port, in the south of Kuwait, becomes operational, a statement issued by the two companies said.

Kuwait, a key OPEC producer pumping some 2.7 million barrels of crude oil per day, uses natural gas imports for power generation and petrochemicals industry.

"This agreement extends Qatar's long-standing LNG supply relationship with Kuwait well into the 2030s and highlights our commitment to meeting Kuwait's LNG requirements," Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi said after signing the deal with his Kuwaiti counterpart.

Kuwait's oil minister Khaled al-Fadhel said the country was "embarking on an ambitious path of economic growth, which requires cleaner energy sources such as natural gas that will contribute to reducing emissions and improving local air quality".