Qatar Energy farms into exploration block off Canada

State-owned Qatar Energy (QE) has signed an agreement with ExxonMobil to become a partner in an offshore exploration licence in Canada.

The company will hold a 40pc interest in the EL 1165A license which is located around 450km east of St John's, the capital city of Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador province. ExxonMobil, which will hold the remaining 60pc stake in the license, has previously announced plans carry out the Hampden exploration activities there.

This represents QE's first entry into the Canadian offshore, although it already has a presence elsewhere in North America.

In 2018, when the company was still known as Qatar Petroleum, it bought a 35pc stake in Mexico's shallow-water block 1 in Campeche bay from Italy's Eni.

Global diversification has been a long-stated aim for QE, particularly since chief executive Saad al-Kaabi took over in 2014. QE's international subsidiary was re-integrated back into the company several years later. And though QPI had focused on buying producing assets, QE's strategy has been to target exploration blocks. The process has accelerated since 2017 with Qatar investing in dozens of overseas upstream oil and gas exploration blocks alongside long-time international partners such as Shell and Total.

Just this year the company signed agreements with TotalEnergies to acquire stakes in Suriname and South Africa, and with Shell to explore blocks in Namibia.

By Ieva Paldaviciute