QatarEnergy is in advanced talks to secure at least 3 million tonnes per year of LNG from Venture Global, potentially deepening a shift toward long-term U.S. supply as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz complicates Qatar's ability to serve customers from its own export system.
Published October 23, 2026
What Readers Should Know
MONTREAL (Oil Monster): QatarEnergy is moving deeper into the U.S. LNG market as the disruption of its traditional export route through the Strait of Hormuz exposes the value of having supply available from outside the Persian Gulf.
The Qatari state energy company is in advanced negotiations with U.S. LNG producer Venture Global for a long-term agreement covering at least 3 million metric tons per year, three people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
The timing, duration and pricing structure of any potential agreement remain unknown, and neither company had publicly confirmed a completed transaction at the time of reporting.
QatarEnergy's Emerging U.S. LNG Supply Picture
Cheniere: 4 Mtpa signed
Venture Global: At least 3 Mtpa under advanced negotiations
Woodside Louisiana LNG: Up to 3 Mtpa under separate reported discussions
Potential scale: More than 7 Mtpa with Venture Global if completed, and around 10 Mtpa if the Woodside talks also reach the reported maximum
QatarEnergy has already been purchasing LNG from Venture Global on the spot market to meet some customer commitments while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted.
That relationship could now move from short-term cargo purchases into a multi-year contractual arrangement.
The development represents an important evolution in QatarEnergy's response to the regional conflict.
Earlier in the crisis, the company relied heavily on spot-market purchases to replace volumes that could not move normally from Qatar.
Longer-term U.S. agreements would provide supply that originates outside the Gulf altogether, giving QatarEnergy greater geographic flexibility when serving customers in Europe, Asia and other markets.
OilMonster Market Lens
One of the world's largest LNG exporters is becoming a major LNG buyer as well.
That does not mean Qatar lacks natural gas resources. It reflects a different problem: having gas in Qatar is not the same as being able to deliver LNG reliably to customers when the country's main maritime outlet is disrupted.
U.S. LNG gives QatarEnergy something its domestic production cannot provide during a Hormuz crisis: geographic redundancy.
The Venture Global negotiations follow a major U.S. LNG agreement announced by QatarEnergy and Cheniere Energy on October 22.
QatarEnergy signed two long-term sale and purchase agreements covering a combined 4 million tonnes per year of LNG through 2054.
Deliveries are expected to begin in 2031.
Under the agreements, 2 Mtpa will come from Cheniere's Sabine Pass operations in Louisiana and another 2 Mtpa from its Corpus Christi operations in Texas.
The LNG will be supplied on a free-on-board basis, giving QatarEnergy responsibility for arranging shipping after the cargo is loaded at the U.S. terminal.
Cheniere said the purchase price will be indexed to Henry Hub natural gas plus a fixed liquefaction fee.
Cheniere Agreement
Total volume: 4 Mtpa
Sabine Pass: 2 Mtpa
Corpus Christi: 2 Mtpa
Start: 2031
End: 2054
Pricing: Henry Hub index plus fixed fee
Cheniere noted that 1 Mtpa of the Sabine Pass agreement remains conditional on a positive final investment decision for the first phase of the Sabine Pass Expansion Project.
Venture Global has rapidly expanded its position in the U.S. LNG industry through projects in Louisiana.
The company's Calcasieu Pass plant is already in commercial operation, while Plaquemines LNG is continuing construction and commissioning.
Its third major project, CP2 LNG, is under construction in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, next to Calcasieu Pass.
Venture Global says CP2 is expected to have peak export capacity exceeding 29 million tonnes per year.
The company is targeting first LNG from CP2 in the second half of 2027.
Venture Global has completed final investment decisions for both phases of CP2 and secured approximately $20.7 billion of project financing.
The company says nearly all of CP2's nameplate production capacity has already been contracted under long-term agreements with customers primarily in Europe and Asia.
Venture Global has more than 49 Mtpa of contracted LNG capacity across its Louisiana projects.
Reuters nevertheless reports that Venture Global retains the largest pool of uncommitted LNG capacity among U.S. suppliers when its wider portfolio and expansion opportunities are considered.
The Venture Global negotiations do not appear to be an isolated procurement effort.
Reuters reported on October 23 that QatarEnergy is also discussing a potential agreement with Australia's Woodside Energy for up to 3 million tonnes per year from the Louisiana LNG project.
That project is under construction and is designed for approximately 16.5 Mtpa of LNG export capacity in its initial configuration.
A Woodside agreement could run for 15 to 20 years if negotiations are completed, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Neither QatarEnergy nor Woodside has announced a final agreement.
OilMonster Market Lens
This is beginning to look less like emergency buying and more like portfolio redesign.
Spot cargoes can solve an immediate shortage. Contracts lasting 15, 20 or more years solve a different problem.
They create permanent supply options outside Qatar's own export geography and allow QatarEnergy to decide whether a customer's cargo should come from the Gulf, the United States or another source.
That flexibility has become materially more valuable since Hormuz shifted from a theoretical chokepoint risk into an actual operating constraint.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has remained heavily constrained since the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran escalated earlier in 2026.
QatarEnergy declared force majeure on some LNG deliveries after attacks and shipping restrictions disrupted normal exports from the Ras Laffan energy complex.
The company subsequently began purchasing additional spot LNG from U.S. suppliers to help meet customer commitments.
Qatar also extended force majeure on some LNG deliveries to customers in Europe and Asia as the disruption continued.
The crisis has strengthened the strategic role of U.S. LNG because American export terminals are geographically removed from the Gulf conflict and the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. LNG can move directly into Atlantic and Pacific trading systems without passing through the Middle East chokepoint.
That does not eliminate shipping risk or price volatility, but it reduces QatarEnergy's dependence on a single export corridor when fulfilling its global sales commitments.
The United States also offers a large and expanding base of liquefaction capacity, giving major portfolio players multiple suppliers and contract structures to choose from.
The U.S. purchases do not replace QatarEnergy's own long-term LNG expansion program.
Qatar continues developing its North Field expansion, which is intended to lift national LNG production capacity from approximately 77 million tonnes per year to 142 million tonnes per year.
The company therefore faces an unusual situation: it is simultaneously one of the world's largest LNG expansion developers and an increasingly important buyer of third-party LNG.
That combination reflects QatarEnergy's role as both a producer and a global LNG portfolio manager.
QatarEnergy's LNG Strategy Now Has Two Tracks
Domestic growth: Expand Qatar's own North Field LNG production.
External supply: Buy LNG from U.S. projects to diversify geography and serve customers when Gulf exports are constrained.
Portfolio objective: Maintain flexibility over where customer cargoes originate.
Spot LNG purchases provided QatarEnergy with flexibility during the initial supply disruption, but spot markets can become expensive when multiple buyers compete for limited cargoes.
Long-term agreements provide greater certainty over available volumes and pricing structures.
The Cheniere contract, for example, is linked to Henry Hub rather than international spot LNG benchmarks.
The commercial terms of a possible Venture Global agreement have not been disclosed.
If QatarEnergy continues securing large volumes from U.S. exporters, the impact will extend beyond Qatar's own portfolio.
Long-term contracts remove some future U.S. LNG volumes from the uncommitted pool available to other buyers.
European utilities, Asian importers and global trading houses are all competing for flexible U.S. LNG as new projects move toward production.
Large QatarEnergy agreements could therefore influence which buyers retain access to uncontracted U.S. capacity later in the decade.
Key Questions to Watch
The Bottom Line
QatarEnergy's talks with Venture Global are significant not because Qatar has run out of natural gas, but because the current crisis has exposed the vulnerability of concentrating LNG exports behind one strategic waterway.
The signed Cheniere deal provides 4 Mtpa of long-term U.S. supply. A Venture Global agreement would lift that new U.S. procurement to at least 7 Mtpa, and separate Woodside negotiations could take the total toward 10 Mtpa.
None of those discussions changes Qatar's position as a major LNG producer.
They change something arguably more important for a global LNG portfolio: QatarEnergy would have more places from which it can deliver the next cargo when its own route to market is disrupted.
Continue Reading
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Courtesy: www.reuters.com
