Asia is coming into focus
Qatar wants to boost LNG production
February 25, 2024, 4:03 p.m
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In Qatar’s view, natural gas will continue to be needed to meet global energy needs for a long time to come. The emirate is also experiencing increasing demand in Asia. That’s why the country is now boosting production – despite currently comparatively low world market prices.
Qatar wants to increase the production of liquefied gas despite sharply fallen world market prices. The head of QatarEnergy, Saad al-Kaabi, announced that an additional 16 million tons of gas should be produced per year. This will increase the group’s production capacity to 142 million tons per year. In the US, gas prices have fallen to historic lows after a decade of sharp increases in production and the US becoming one of the largest exporters of oil and gas. In Europe, gas prices have also fallen sharply, although Russian deliveries have stopped. Germany therefore concluded new delivery contracts with Qatar in 2022.
Kaabi assumes that the gas markets in Asia will continue to grow. Europe will also need more gas in the foreseeable future. “We still believe that gas has a great future for at least 50 years,” he said in Doha. “We see that Europe will need gas for a very, very long time. But the growth in Asia will definitely be greater than the growth in Europe, mainly due to population growth.”
Qatar is one of the world’s leading exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG), for which intense competition has broken out since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. Despite the fall in prices, all major gas producers, including the US, Australia and Russia, want to increase production as they rely on demand growth. They also see a lower need for LNG in the future, namely when fewer fossil fuels are needed as the energy transition progresses.
Kaabi announced that exploration of Qatar’s gas reserves would continue. Depending on market needs, funding will be increased. Regarding investments in further exploration and production in the North Field gas field, he said: “It is difficult to give a figure for the costs of the expansion now, but they are certainly in the billions.” North Field is part of the world’s largest gas field, which Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its share South Pars.