LNGpedia

Qatar to supply 30% of world’s LNG needs

Zawiya, 26 May 2009

Qatar is pushing ahead with mega downstream gas ventures to attain its targeted output of more than 77 million tonnes in 2012 and supply 30 per cent of the world’s LNG needs, a Qatar Petroleum (QP) official said.

Sultan Abdulla Ali, Communications Manager, QP, said production of liquefied natural gas reached around 33 million tonnes in 2008 and is expected to surge to nearly 60 million tonnes through 2009.

“In 2012, we will be producing 77.5 million tonnes of LNG. We will reach that level as all planned projects are on track, another milestone project is RasGas Six, which will be officially inaugurated in October,” Abdulla told Emirates Business in an interview at the Gastech show, which opened in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

“This means that in 2012, we will be by far the largest LNG exporter in the world and will supply 30 per cent of the global LNG needs.”

Abdullah said massive investments pumped by Qatar and its foreign partners, including the world’s largest private oil company ExxonMobil, allowed the country to achieve more than half its output target on time.

“Within one year, we will have achieved more than 65 per cent of that target and within two years, the target will have been fully met.”

Qatar embarked on one of the largest gas development projects in history in mid 1990s to tap its gigantic offshore North Field, which straddles nearly 6,000 square metres of the Qatar and Iranian waters.

The field is classified as the world’s largest single reservoir of non-associated natural gas, with an estimated 900 trillion cubic feet at the end of 2009.

But according to Qatari Energy and Industry Minister Abdullah Al Attiya, upstream development of the field has been put on hold pending the completion of an assessment study, which industry sources believe could result in revising up the field’s resources despite massive production over the past decade. “The North Field is an enormous reservoir of natural gas, although we will be pumping 77 million tonnes in 2012, we expect it to last more than 100 years,” Abdulla said. “For now we do not have immediate long-term plans that go beyond 2012, but depending on the market conditions, we will be in a position to draw up such plans but don’t forget that most of our present contracts are long-term supply contracts, which last 25 years or more.”

He said Qatar’s two main LNG producers, RasGas and QatarGas, are now supplying LNG to three continents, including Europe, Asia and America.

“In the beginning we focused on the Far East but now we are supplying three continents, we will open a new terminal in Italy in October and another one in the United States early next year,” he said. Abdulla declined to specify investments in the LNG industry but QP has approved QR222.7 billion (Dh224.7bn) for oil and gas development during 2008-2012.

Sources estimated investments at more than $50bn (Dh183.5bn) since 1990s.

The surge in LNG output sharply boosted Qatar’s income and allowed it to record high growth over the past few years, becoming one of the richest nations.

The gas sector’s share of the country’s GDP also exceeded the oil sector in the third quarter of 2008 for the first time, standing at QR34.8bn. The oil sector was officially estimated at around QR30.6bn.

The North Field was discovered in 1971. Its gas reserves are equivalent to nearly 162 billion barrels of oil, accounting for nearly 14 per cent of the world total. 

By Nadim Kawach

© Emirates Business 24/7 2009