Qatar's Minister of Energy for the island Net: global demand for liquefied gas will rise in the future

Mohammed Al-Shayazmi-Doha

Qatar will raise its LNG output to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027 to meet growing global demand for gas, Qatar's Minister of State for Energy and Managing Director Saad Bin Shraideh Al Kaabi has confirmed.

This increase was 64% of the current production level of 77 million tonnes, the result of a hard work that continued during the past two years as part of the plan to determine the extension of the field towards the southwest, and to discuss the production potential of the coastal areas in northern Qatar.

The minister said that the evaluation work and technical tests of the wells revealed important results, namely the presence of an extension of the layers producing the North Field deep in the Qatari land in the area of ​​Ras Laffan, and the identification of large quantities of gas production, 80 kilometers northeast of Doha, which will allow the development of A new project for the production of liquefied natural gas in the northern region of Qatar.

In response to a question by Al-Jazeera Net, the Qatari minister ruled out the possibility of any repercussions on the world market, either in terms of prices or reduction in demand.

The Minister underlined that reducing production costs and developing plans to achieve this goal remain the main concerns of the State of Qatar to ensure the safe and reliable supply of energy to customers worldwide.

Huge precautions
According to the Qatari Minister, these results are very important, as the quantities of proven gas contained in the North field exceeds 1,760 trillion cubic feet of gas, in addition to more than 70 billion barrels of condensate and huge amounts of liquefied petroleum gas, ethane and helium gas.

The latest assessment well for the North Field is the NF12 well, which was drilled in Ras Laffan Industrial City, about 12 kilometers offshore, where it has undergone extensive testing over the past few months.

Between production and demand
The discovery is part of Qatar's ambitious plans to increase production and develop its huge LNG facilities, as the world's largest LNG producer.

Despite international reports that LNG prices have fallen on the world market in recent months due to new supply flows, global production continues to rise until 2024.

Regarding Qatar Petroleum's tendency to use this rise to support LNG projects rather than gas-to-liquids plans, Al Kaabi responded that the economic feasibility of LNG is more feasible, which is currently the best option.

On the volume of investments planned to meet the expected increase in production of Qatar Petroleum, the Minister of State for Energy said that in this first phase of the increase, which is scheduled to expire by 2024, we will see the signing of the remaining contracts by the beginning of next year, to complete the contracts of that phase, and with it will become clear the volume of investment planned In which.

new Horizons
Backed by significant potential to develop its natural gas resources and increase its LNG exports, Qatar continues to play a key role in the global gas markets, maintaining its position as one of the world's largest natural gas reserves.

With this positive step, Qatar's gas industry will reach new heights, enabling it to immediately commence the basic engineering work required for a new project involving two giant LNG lines with a production capacity of 16 million tonnes per annum, and Qatar's hydrocarbon production. To about 6.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

While the partners of the next phase have yet to be disclosed, some international energy companies have not hidden their quest for stakes in major expansion plans to increase Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, and are making significant efforts to win Qatari gas expansion contracts.

This is a confirmation of the above mentioned by Bloomberg in an earlier report to start negotiations between Qatar Petroleum and some major energy companies on supporting plans to expand the production of liquefied gas, after the company issued bids to expand its work in the North Field, the largest natural gas field. In the world, all contracts are expected to be in place by the first quarter of next year, according to Bloomberg.

Operational expansion
As part of its strategy, the Qatari minister announced the signing of a long-term agreement between Qatar Petroleum and a Belgian company to receive, store and re-vaporize liquefied natural gas at the LNG receiving station in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

Qatar Petroleum, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum, became the sole beneficiary of the plant's full capacity at the end of current contracts until 2044.

Qatar Petroleum also owns a major stake in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the south-western British province of Wales to receive Qatari gas coming to Britain and pump it back into the British National Gas Network, and Qatar is a partner in the Adriatic gas station. In Italy, all of this reflects Qatar Petroleum's plans to diversify its markets.