For Qatar it also signals its ability to sign big multi-billion-dollar deals with oil majors despite a prolonged regional political crisis and pressure on governments and companies by other Gulf neighbors to reduce ties with Doha.

Last year, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with Egypt imposed a political and economic boycott on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.

In May, the International Petroleum Technology Conference decided to move its 2020 IPTC event which was due to be held in Doha, to Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, prompting Al-Kaabi to instruct heads of QP’s subsidiaries and joint ventures to cut all ties with the organization, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The deal with Exxon appears as a show of strength by QP as the boycott continues.

“This agreement... goes hand in hand with the planned expansion of our local production from the North Field, which will further boost Qatar’s leading global position by raising its LNG production from 77 million to 100 million tons per year,” Al-Kaabi said.

“Our oil and gas sector has not been impacted by the blockade, nor has our previously planned expansion.”

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