Sources say that Malaysia's Petronas is set to sign a deal for LNG supply with QatarEnergy.

Two sources familiar with the matter said that Malaysia's state-owned company Petronas was set to sign a deal with QatarEnergy for the supply of liquefied gas. The southeast Asian nation is seeking more supplies of the super-cooled fuel.

One of the sources said that Petroliam Nasional or Petronas will sign a deal for LNG up to 2,000,000 metric tons annually.

According to Kpler data, Qatar was the second largest LNG exporter in the world after the United States. It shipped out 81.07 millions tons of fuel last year. QatarEnergy has signed a huge LNG deal with Japan’s Jera.

The massive 'North Field expansion project' will produce the first LNG in 2026, during the second half. The project will produce 126 million tons of LNG annually by 2027 when it reaches full production. This will increase QatarEnergy’s current output by 85%.

Both companies did not respond to a comment request outside of normal working hours.

Petronas faces a shortage of domestic gas while local demand is increasing. This has led it to actively pursue new gas opportunities overseas and form partnerships. It also seeks new long-term LNG import deals.

The company said in a statement last year that it was working on getting a third regasification facility up and running?in Malaysia.

Petronas signed LNG import agreements with Woodside Energy (formerly Commonwealth LNG), Venture Global, ADNOC and ADNOC in recent years.

(source: Reuters)