DOHA Qatar's energy minister announced Saturday that an agreement protocol had been signed with the U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil on a gas-to-liquids project worth three billion dollars.

"The project is aimed at transforming natural gas into liquid oil products and has a production capacity of 80,000 barrels per day (bpd)," said Abdallah bin Hamad al-Attiya on his return from a one-week visit to the United States.

He said he had examined means of reinforcing energy cooperation and discussed the international oil market with several U.S. officials, including Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, AFP reported.