Qatar strikes 10-year naphtha deal with Marubeni

State-owned QatarEnergy has secured a 10-year deal to supply Japanese trading house Marubeni with up to 1.2mn t/yr of naphtha, starting from October.

The long-term agreement builds on the five-year naphtha supply deal which was signed between the companies in 2018 and is due to expire this month.

Qatar was the second-largest supplier of naphtha to Japan after the UAE this year, with exports rising to 2.53mn t in January-August, compared with 1.97mn t in the corresponding period last year, according to preliminary data from Vortexa. Around 558,000t of naphtha arrived in Japan from Qatar in August, the highest volume to be discharged on a monthly basis since at least 2018.

Marubeni is the largest petrochemical feedstock trading firm in Asia and relies on continuous supplies of naphtha from Qatar. Both companies have long-term partnerships through several shared energy investments, including the 800MW Al Kharsaah plant and the Mesaieed power plant.

The agreement with Marubeni follows similar deals signed with Shell, Thailand's SCG Chemicals, and Vietnam's Long Son Petrochemicals - a joint venture between state-owned PetroVietnam and Siam Cement.

By Rithika Krishna