(MENAFN- AFP) British energy firm Centrica has signed a deal to supply British homes with Qatari liquefied natural gas in a tie-up worth £4.4 billion and lasting until 2018, the group said on Wednesday.
Centrica said the deal, worth the equivalent of $7.1 billion or 5.2 billion euros, builds on its existing LNG agreement with Qatargas signed in 2011 and which had been due to end in mid-2014.
Britain is scrambling to come up with new energy sources, now even turning to foreign owned providers, amid widespread voter anger at high electricity and gas bills from domestic companies.
"Centrica plc, the parent company of British Gas, today announced it has entered into a 4.5 year LNG supply agreement with Qatargas for the purchase of up to three million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas," a statement said.
It said the deal could provide gas to meet approximately 13 percent of UK annual residential gas demand, enough to meet the needs of around three million households.
"With increasing global competition from emerging economies for LNG, and declining North Sea production, this transaction secures important gas supplies for Centrica and the UK to December 2018," the statement said.
Centrica chief executive Sam Laidlaw said it was "vital that the UK has a diverse range of sources of supply to meet its energy requirements".
Despite Wednesday's announcement, Centrica's share price fell 1.45 percent to 352.90 pence in early afternoon deals on the London stock market.
Ed Miliband, leader of the main opposition Labour party, has vowed to freeze domestic energy prices for 20 months if he wins the next general election in mid-2015, as part of efforts to combat what he calls a "cost of living crisis" in Britain.
However Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservatives head a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, has condemned the promise as a "gimmick".
Amid anger among Britons at soaring household bills, Centrica boss Laidlaw revealed this week that he has turned down part of his bonus due for this year.
Last month, Britain paved the way for its first nuclear plant in a generation, to be built by state-owned foreign firms, underlining the government's controversial commitment to atomic power.
The coalition government signed a £16-billion deal with French energy giant EDF to build two reactors at Hinkley Point C, southwestern England, to help meet Britain's future energy needs.
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