DOHA: Qatar on Sunday named France’s TotalEnergies as its first foreign partner to develop the world’s biggest natural gas field and eventually help ease Europe’s energy fears.

“We have finished the selection process and we have signed the agreements,” Qatar’s Minister of Energy Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said, adding that more deals will be announced “in the near future”.

TotalEnergies will take a 6.25 percent share of the North Field East Project in its joint venture with state-owned QatarEnergy (QE), the French firm’s chief Patrick Pouyanne told reporters.

Industry sources say that Exxon Mobil, Shell and ConocoPhilips are all in line to take part in the giant expansion, that Qatar had originally wanted to finance alone.

The oil and gas giants are expected to take a total stake of about 25 percent share in North Field.

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Qatar estimates it will cost more than $28 billion to expand production by more than 60 percent by 2027. Kaabi said that production would start in 2026 and that the expansion was “on target”.

Qatar is already one of the world’s top liquefied natural gas producers, alongside the United States and Australia.

But following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, European nations have been queueing up in Doha seeking alternatives to Russian oil and gas.

QE estimates that North Field has about 10 percent of the world’s known natural gas reserves.

The reserves extend under the sea into Iranian territory, where Tehran’s efforts to exploit its South Pars gas field have been hindered by international sanctions.

The Ukraine conflict has injected a new urgency into efforts around the world to develop new sources.

Tanzania on Saturday signed a framework agreement with British and Norwegian energy giants Shell and Equinor towards implementing a $30-billion project to export its natural gas.