QatarEnergy, one of the world's biggest LNG suppliers, signed a deal on Tuesday with Japan's top power generator JERA to supply three million tonnes of LNG annually for 27 years from 2028, further strengthening Qatar's position in the Japanese market.
The agreement, made on the sidelines of the LNG2026 conference in Doha, would bolster QatarEnergy's position in Japan as competition intensifies from US suppliers and Gulf rivals United Arab Emirates and Oman, which offer more flexible terms.
It follows months of talks between the two firms. Reuters first reported the talks in May 2025.
The agreement, "strengthens Japan’s energy security by deepening our partnership with Qatar and diversifying supply sources through a greater weighting of the Middle East in our LNG portfolio, and comes in line with Japan’s energy policy," JERA said in a statement.
JERA said the LNG volumes, delivered at destination, will support gas-fired power generation and help meet rising electricity demand driven by new data centres and semiconductor plants.
Qatar has dominated the Japanese market in the past and was among the latter's top three LNG suppliers a decade ago, shipping over 15-16 mtpa to Japan between 2012-2014. In 2025, Qatari LNG exports to Japan stood at 3.59 million tonnes.
Japan's exports declined over the past decade as buyers have preferred supplies from the US, the UAE and Oman, which offer shorter contracts and fewer destination restrictions.
JERA, Japan's biggest buyer of LNG, has been working on diversifying its supply sources to meet demand growth spurred by data centres and AI. Handling between 30-35 million tonnes (mt) of LNG annually, JERA sources nearly half of this from countries including Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia.
In June, it agreed to new supply deals undefined for US LNG from four projects to diversify its global portfolio away from Australia. While Australia and Asia currently make up more than half of JERA's LNG portfolio, the recent deals are expected to raise the US share to 30 per cent by the early 2030s, from 10 per cent now.
(Reporting by Youssef Saba in Doha; Additional reporting by Emily Chow in Doha and Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo; Writing Marwa Rashad in London; Editing by Nina Chestney and Bernadette Baum)
