Qatar To Boost Gas Output To Keep Top LNG Exporter Status

Qatar is lifting a self-imposed moratorium on the development of its part of the world’s biggest natural gas field and is launching a new gas project at North Field in a bid to raise its gas exports and remain competitive in the global LNG market.

Since 2005, Qatar has chosen to continue a self-imposed moratorium on the development of its North Field, including constructing new LNG export facilities; as such, no new projects were expected in Qatar until 2020 at the earliest.

Today, Qatar’s state-held company Qatar Petroleum said in a statement that it plans to develop a new gas project in the North Field, the part of the field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its section of the world’s biggest gas field South Pars.

Work on the project’s details is expected to begin in the coming months, the Qatari company said.

“Qatar Petroleum’s technical studies and assessment of the North Field have confirmed the potential for developing a new gas project that can be targeted for export with a capacity of about 2 billion cubic feet per day. It is worth noting that a project of this size will increase the current production of the North Field by about 10%, which will add about 400,000 BBL/D (barrels per day) of oil equivalent to the State of Qatar’s production,” the company’s President and CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said.

The project for resuming development at North Field will “further strengthen Qatar’s leading position as a major player in the global gas industry,” Al-Kaabi noted.

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Qatar Petroleum has more than doubled its oil and gas production since 2006: total oil, gas and condensate output hit 5.17 million barrels of oil equivalent daily in 2015. By this measure, Qatar Petroleum is now the world’s #4 hydrocarbons producer, ahead of Russia’s giant Rosneft, with its 5.1 million boed of daily output.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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