HOUSTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) is

ahead of schedule with its plan to double the size of its

liquefied natural gas (LNG) portfolio to 40 million tons per

annum (mtpa) by 2030 and will focus on selling its own gas

rather than trading that of third parties, the company's LNG

chief said on Thursday.

Exxon is revamping its LNG trading strategy amid growing

production of the fuel and as part of a wider corporate

reorganization that began in 2022.

The oil major is relatively small in LNG trading compared to

TotalEnergies and Shell PLC ( SHEL ). Shell is one of

the industry leaders and made $2.4 billion from trading LNG in

the fourth quarter 2023.

Unlike Shell and Total, Exxon plans to mainly trade its own

gas, said Peter Clarke, Exxon senior vice president for global

LNG.

"Our portfolio is never going to look like Shell's, it's not

going to look like Total's, we are targeting different aspects

of the value chain," he told Reuters in an interview.

Exxon said in 2020 it planned to double its LNG portfolio to

40 mtpa by decade-year, from 20 mtpa. It is now producing just

short of 30 mtpa, he said.

"We are well on track to achieve the objective we set

ourselves back in 2020," Clarke said. "And we are slightly ahead

of that."

While Exxon could widen its trading portfolio by purchasing

and marketing LNG from third parties, Clarke said, it considers

margins in that business are small compared to the profits it

can make on its own natural gas.

For Exxon, there is more value in producing, liquefying and

selling gas, he said. Long-term contracts still account for

about 80% of the global LNG trade, he said.

"The big component in LNG is obviously the commercialization

of the LNG itself," Clarke said. "We want to have the leading

LNG portfolio in the world in terms of its financial robustness

and financial returns. I would say we're well on the way to

doing it."

Exxon's volumes will increase through the Golden Pass LNG

project, where it has a 30% stake with QatarEnergies as a

partner. That project has an estimated export capacity of around

18 mtpa and will produce its first LNG in 2025.

The company has said it expects to make a final investment

decision for its PNG Papua LNG project in Papua New Guinea this

year and begin engineering and design for a Mozambique project

by year end.

Clarke said the projects would help Exxon supply clients in

Asia, where the company sees the most potential growth.

"The market is expanding. And by 2050, 75% of global energy

demand will be in Asia Pacific, so we are really focused in that

area."