Exxon is backing a natural gas mega-project in Qatar as global energy supplies buckle under pressures stemming from Russian's war on Ukraine

• ExxonMobil on Tuesday has entered an agreement to support the expansion of the world's largest liquefied natural gas project in Qatar.
• ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy will become partners in a new joint venture to develop the nearly $30 billion North Field East project.

ExxonMobil has entered a deal to support the expansion of the world's largest liquefied natural gas project, with the agreement arriving at a time when Russia's war on Ukraine has prompted supply shifts in the global energy market.

ExxonMobil will help QatarEnergy further develop Qatar's North Field East project that will result in increasing the Middle East country's annual LNG capacity to 110 million tons from 77 million tons, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. Qatar is in its first and largest phase of the nearly $30 billion project expansion, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday.

ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy will become partners in a new joint venture in which QatarEnergy will hold a 75% interest with ExxonMobil holding the remaining 25% interest. The joint venture itself will own 25% of the entire North Field East project. Financial terms were not disclosed in the statement.

The deal implies a 6.25% stake for Exxon in the North Field East expansion, said QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi, according to the report. Exxon and QatarEnergy announced the deal at QatarEnergy's headquarters in Doha.

ExxonMobil joins ConocoPhillips, Italy's Eni SpA, and TotalEnergies in investing in the North Field East project.

The North Field East project will include four LNG trains with a combined capacity of 32 million tons per year.

"We are collaborating with QatarEnergy on North Field East to accelerate the production of secure, affordable and cleaner energy our world needs," Darren Woods, ExxonMobil's CEO, said in a Tuesday's joint statement.

Among the world's largest LNG exporters, Qatar is one of few countries that with the expanded gas flow can substantially replace Russian gas supplies to Europe, according to Bloomberg.

Europe this year launched a plan to step back from supplies of Russian natural gas in the wake of Moscow's war against Ukraine launched in late February.

Meanwhile, as Western demand for Russian crude oil has slumped, Russia has become the biggest oil supplier to China, according to data released Monday by the Chinese General Administration of Customs. Russia supplied 2.02 million barrels per day to China in May, up nearly 30% from the previous month, and up 55% from May 2021, to overtake Saudi Arabia's position as China's top supplier.