QatarEnergy have signed a 10-year long-term agreement for the supply of 11 barrels of condensate per year to Mitsui and Co. Energy Trading Singapore Pte. Limited, starting in April.

Mitsui and Co. Energy Trading Singapore Pte. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui and Co. Ltd. (“Mitsui”), a global conglomerate engaged in the energy sector and general trading, headquartered in Japan.

According to QatarEnergy’s statement, the terms of the supply agreement provide options for increasing the condensate volumes, as additional condensate volume is expected to be exported from Qatar once the North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) expansion projects come online.

“We are delighted to announce the signing of this long-term sales agreement with one of our strategic Japanese partners, solidifying our decades-long relationship with Mitsui,” said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, CEO of QatarEnergy and Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs.

Condensates are a by-product of natural gas production and are commonly used in the production of gasoline.

The deal follows Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Qatar in July, where he expressed his desire to strengthen energy ties and economic cooperation between the two countries.

In October, Japan’s Mitsui and Co. announced their consideration of buying a stake in the North Field expansion project to ensure a stable supply of LNG. In December, Kaabi stated that QatarEnergy was in talks with several Asian buyers to become “value-added” partners with a stake in the expansion project.

Notably, the North Field expansion project is expected to increase Qatar’s production to 126 million metric tons of LNG per year by 2027, up from the current 77 mtpa.