Total and CNOOC Strengthen LNG Partnership

French energy group Total and China's CNOOC have strengthened their existing partnership in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector to increase their output, the companies said on Monday.

Total and CNOOC said they had agreed to increase the contract volume from 1 million tons per annum (Mtpa) to 1.5 Mtpa of LNG, sourced from Total's global LNG portfolio, and added they had extended the term of contract to 20 years.

"We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with CNOOC to expand our presence in the Chinese LNG market, which grew by 50 percent over the first half of 2018 and will continue to drive the increase of LNG demand over the next decade," said Philippe Sauquet, Total's Gas, Renewables & Power President.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by David Evans)