British oil giant BP has signed a 20- year agreement to export U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas, a Freeport LNG official said Monday.

The BP contract is for 4.4 million tons of LNG per year at the Freeport LNG facility, where it would be loaded onto BP tankers and shipped abroad, the Houston Chronicle quoted Freeport LNG CEO Michael Smith as saying.

BP is the third company to sign an agreement to buy LNG from the facility, following two Japanese companies Osaka Gas and Chubu Electric Power, which contract another 4.4 million tons of LNG per year from the facility, said the report.

BP, Europe's second biggest energy company, is joining Shell, Exxon Mobil and Total SA in the race to ship burgeoning North American production overseas.

The booming natural gas production in the U.S. sent natural gas prices last year to their lowest level in a decade, prompting companies to seek permission to ship U.S. fuel overseas.

Freeport is one of more than 20 proposed LNG export terminals in the U.S. seeking permits allowing processing of about 31 billion cubic feet a day, according to media reports.

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