LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - LNG Canada, the $30 billionliquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, has bagged anotherclient after project shareholder Petronas signed an initialsales deal with trading house Vitol.
Royal Dutch Shell decided in October to constructthe export terminal. It was the first major investment decisionin a new North American LNG export project for two years and wasexpected to launch a new wave of such projects in the region.
Petronas, the Malaysian oil and gas company that bought a 25percent stake in the project in May, will supply Vitol with 0.8million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG starting from 2024 for 15years, Vitol said in a statement.
"The primary supply to Vitol will come from LNG Canada aswell as from (Petronas') other global LNG supply portfolio,"Vitol said.
Vitol joins Asian utilities Tokyo Gas, Toho Gasand Korea Gas Corp (Kogas) as buyers,committing to offtake around 2.4 mtpa collectively.
Such long-term agreements normally underpin project financeand are critical before a final investment decision is taken.
But because Shell and partners Petronas, PetroChina,Mitsubishi and Kogas are such large players in the LNGmarket, they can absorb the output into their global portfolioswithout needing to find significant other buyers.
Under previously announced deals, Toho Gas will buy 0.3mtpa, Tokyo Gas 0.6 mtpa and Kogas 0.7 mtpa from LNGCanada.
($1 = 1.3281 Canadian dollars)(Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Mark Potter)
