Qatar announces ambitious plan to increase gas production even more amid GCC rift
Despite the ongoing illegal siege of Qatar, the country is in no mood to slow down its rate of growth.
Qatar, hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is set to bolster its natural gas production even more soon.
Qatar Petroleum has announced that it will increase its natural gas production from the North Field by adding a fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) production line, taking it to 110m tonnes a year, reported Al Jazeera.
Qatar Petroleum increases LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 million tons annually#QP #QatarPetroleum #Qatar #LNG https://t.co/488qgZzeG1 pic.twitter.com/V0txn2LgRf
— Qatar Petroleum (@qatarpetroleum) September 26, 2018
Once implemented, Qatar will be on par with top energy exporters around the world. The move is an apparent show of strength amid the ongoing illegal siege, reported Reuters.
While Qatar is one of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ smallest producers, it is also one of the most influential players in the global LNG market due to its massive output capacity and gas reserves.
The fourth liquefaction train, like the three trains announced earlier as part of a project to develop additional gas from the North Field, will be of nearly 8m tonnes capacity per year.
Once the project is complete, Qatar’s LNG production capacity will increase by almost 43% from the current 77m tonnes per annum (MTPA).
It will enable Qatar to consolidate its position as the world’s largest LNG producer and exporter, Qatar Petroleum President and CEO Saad Sherida Al Kaabi was quoted as saying by Gulf Times.
Guess @qatarpetroleum is set to look all competitors in the #NaturalGas sector in the rear view mirror: https://t.co/hejdXZt9NJ https://t.co/VCqmPxK4YG
The completed project is expected to produce around 11,000 tonnes of LPG, 4,000 tonnes of ethane, 260,000 barrels of condensate and approximately 20 tonnes of pure helium per day.
“As we’ve announced last year, QP has embarked on a project to develop additional gas from the North Field and build three new LNG mega trains. Based on the good results obtained through recent additional appraisal and testing, we’ve decided to add a fourth LNG mega train and include it in the ongoing Front-End Engineering of the project,” Al Kaabi told The Peninsula.
“This production addition will have a great impact on Qatar’s economic growth and will help stimulate our local economy. We believe that LNG has bright prospects, and that the new expansion project reflects QP’s commitment to meeting its worldwide customers’ growing needs,” he added.
The project is also expected to improve Qatar’s total production capacity from 4.8m to 6.2m barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The timeframe for completion to reach the new capacity is expected by the end of 2023 or early 2024, reported Reuters.
