HANGZHOU, April 23 (Xinhua) -- ExxonMobil has signed a 20-year agreement to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group.

Zhejiang Energy is expected to receive 1 million metric tons of LNG from the U.S. energy giant each year, the two announced Monday.

The long-term deal could help reduce purchase costs and meet the rising demand for clean energy in the bustling eastern provinces of Zhejiang.

The 1 million metric tons of LNG equals to about 1.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas, the current annual consumption for civil use in the province, Zhejiang Energy said.

"ExxonMobil shares Zhejiang Energy's vision in developing a major LNG gateway in the Ningbo-Zhoushan region," said Peter Clarke, senior vice president of LNG at ExxonMobil. "We look forward to continuing our support for Zhejiang Energy during the construction, commissioning and operation of its Wenzhou LNG receiving terminal."

Fan Xiaoning, vice president of Zhejiang Energy, said the firm's LNG receiving terminal in the city of Wenzhou was under construction and it planned to build two to three such terminals in Ningbo and Zhoushan, raising the receiving capacity in Zhejiang to over 40 million metric tons.

Zhejiang Energy will continue to diversify its LNG supply to ensure stable supplies in the long term, according to Fan.