Ron Bousso and Marwa Rahhad by Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON (Reuters). -Qatar has chosen Exxon Mobil According to people familiar with the matter, Corp (NYSE;), TotalEnergies SE (LON:), Shell (LON:), and ConocoPhillips(NYSE:) are the partners in the expansion the world’s biggest liquefied LNG (LNG) plant, according to Tuesday.

Qatar is expected to increase its LNG output by 64% in 2027. It will also strengthen its status as the largest LNG exporter worldwide and guarantee long term gas supplies to Europe.

Qatar Energy, a state-owned company that owns Qatar Energy (QE), had made a decision to invest the final $30 billion in North Field. However, it opened an opportunity to partner with other companies to take on the financial risks of this development.

They submitted bids along with new entrants on May 20, 2121. The companies that are currently part of Qatar’s LNG production already, were the four. Chevron Corp (NYSE:) & Italy’s Eni.

Exxon, Total and Conoco were confirmed by four people. One source claimed Shell and Conoco would also participate.

Exxon Total and ConocoPhillips did not respond to a request for comment. Eni, Chevron and QE did not respond to a request immediately for comment.

Shell stated in a statement that it had “bought to participate” and would love to be chosen.

One source said that although a decision was made, the official announcement of winners may not come until the end of June. Darren Woods (Exxon chief executive) will be at an energy conference in conjunction with QE sometime later this month.

QE indicated that it will host a press conference as well as a signing event on June 12, but didn’t specify what the subject would be.

One source said that the four major oil companies will have between 20 and 25% of the total offtake for the new project. This is proportionally less than the share they hold in the current projects which are 25-35%.

The North Field Expansion (NFE) plan includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity from 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 126 mtpa by 2027.

Exxon partners in Qatar’s Golden Pass LNG project, which is estimated to cost $10 billion. QE has a 70% interest and Exxon 30%.