THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Shell, Qatar Set To Unveil $8B LNG Contract Sun –Sources: “Royal Dutch/Shell (RD, SC) is set to unveil an $8 billion agreement with state-owned Qatar Petroleum Sunday to export liquefied natural gas to the U.S., people familiar with the situation said Wednesday. The contract will boost Qatar's ambition to become the world's largest natural gas producer by 2011 and strengthen the Anglo-Dutch oil major's number one position as a private supplier.” (ShellNews.net) Posted 24 Feb 05

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LONDON -- Royal Dutch/Shell (RD, SC) is set to unveil an $8 billion agreement with state-owned Qatar Petroleum Sunday to export liquefied natural gas to the U.S., people familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

The contract will boost Qatar's ambition to become the world's largest natural gas producer by 2011 and strengthen the Anglo-Dutch oil major's number one position as a private supplier.

One person familiar with the talks said they were in the final stages and a provisional date to announce the deal had been set for Sunday.

Another person said Shell has made the best proposals among the string of competitors who were fighting for the deal. The person didn't specify who the other rivals were.

The $8 billion project is called Qatargas-4. It will handle a supercooling facility, train 7, with an LNG production capacity of 7.5 million tons a year.

Qatar Petroleum couldn't be reached. Shell declined to comment on what it called a "market rumor".

Qatar has previously signed LNG supply agreements with Gas Natural Group of Spain and BP PLC (BP.LN) of the U.K. Company Web sites: http://www.shell.com; http://www.qp.com.qa

-By Benoit Faucon and Nehad al-Ali in Doha, Dow Jones Newswires, +44-20-7842-9386; benoit.faucon@dowjones.com