Chinese state-owned energy companies are negotiating investments in the expansion of Qatar’s North Field and are ready to close long-term supply contracts, Reuters has reported , citing unnamed sources. The North Field is the Qatari portion of the world’s largest offshore gas deposit, which it shares with Iran. Iran’s portion is called South Pars. LNG supply has recently become a top priority for large energy consumers due to tight supply and as the European Union seeks to pivot away from Russian pipeline gas. The supply situation is so tight that in order to supply LNG volumes to Europe, U.S. producers had to divert cargos originally destined for Asian buyers. Qatar was until recently the world’s largest LNG exporter, but over the last couple of years, it has been dethroned temporarily by Australia, and this year is expected to be overtaken by the United States as additional liquefaction capacity comes […]