Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company - 3 (RL 3) has entered into a new liquefied natural gas sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with French energy company, EDF under which RasGas will deliver up to 2mn tonnes a year to EDF’s new terminal in Dunkerque, France from 2017.
The agreement was signed by RasGas chief executive officer Hamad Mubarak al-Muhannadi and Marc Benayoun, EDF group senior executive, vice president gas and CEO of Edison.  
This agreement complements three existing long term SPAs between RasGas ventures and EDF group subsidiaries for delivery of up to 4.6mn tonnes per year to Edison in Italy and up 3.5mn tonnes per year to EDF Trading in Belgium. 
Al-Muhannadi said, “This latest agreement is an excellent example of RasGas’ continued commitment to developing and executing opportunities that respond to our customer’s needs. We are proud that, together with EDF, we have played a significant role in continuing to provide a safe and reliable supply of energy to the homes, businesses and communities of Europe.” 
Benayoun said, “This agreement with RasGas reflects EDF’s growing interest in the LNG markets.  The group is proud to add this significant contract to its global LNG portfolio and to reach a new important milestone in the excellent relationship with RasGas, who already delivers LNG cargoes to the group under long-term contracts in both Rovigo and Zeebrugge terminals. 
“At a time when Dunkerque LNG is due to receive its first commissioning cargo early July, this new contract demonstrates Dunkerque LNG’s outstanding position in the North West European gas markets.”
RasGas is a Qatari joint stock company established in 2001 by Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil RasGas Inc. RasGas acts as the operating company for and on behalf of the owners of the liquefied natural gas projects RL, RL (II) and RL3.
With operations facilities based in Ras Laffan Industrial City, RasGas’ principal activities are to extract, process, liquefy, store and export LNG and its derivatives from Qatar’s North Field. 
RasGas exports to countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas with a total LNG production capacity of approximately 37mn tonnes per year.
RasGas chief marketing and shipping officer, Khalid Sultan R al-Kuwari and Pierre Vergerio, Edison executive vice president, (midstream gas, energy management and optimisation) were also present.