As of: February 26, 2024, 12:16 p.m
By: Momir Takac
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Qatar is the world leader in gas production.
Although prices have recently fallen, the emirate wants to massively expand funding.
Munich – Qatar is currently making a name for itself as a mediator in the Gaza war.
But the emirate, which has been criticized for its sponsorship of Hamas, is known above all for its rich reserves of oil and natural gas.
And it wants to benefit even more from this in the future.
The country has announced plans to almost double its production of natural gas.
Qatar shares the world's largest natural gas field with Iran.
According to the International Energy Agency, it extends over 9,700 square kilometers and is located between the countries in the Persian Gulf at a depth of around 3,000 meters.
On the Iranian side it is called “South Pars”, on the Qatari side it is called “North Dome” or “North Field”.
Qatar wants to almost double gas production by 2030
According to the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, the amount of gas at the start of production in the late 1980s was 38 trillion cubic meters.
Most recently, Qatar produced around 77 million tons per year.
By 2030, the amount is expected to increase to 142 million tons annually.
This would correspond to an increase of 85 percent.
Qatar wants to massively expand gas production - including LNG.
© IMAGO / Pond5 Images
"Recent studies have shown that the northern field contains huge additional amounts of gas," Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said at a press conference on Sunday (February 25), according to Arabic broadcaster
Al Jazeera
.
Al-Kaabi, who also heads the state-owned company “Qatar Energy”, also announced more liquefied natural gas (LNG).
These results “will allow us to begin developing a new LNG project in the western sector of the North Field with a production capacity of approximately 16 million tonnes per year,” he said.
Increased LNG competition after the start of the Ukraine war
After the start of the Ukraine war, competition for LNG intensified.
Europe was looking for alternatives to Russian pipeline gas, which it no longer wanted to purchase because of the country's aggression.
The US and Qatar – both leaders in global LNG production – stepped in to make up for lost gas volumes.
Prices still fell.
Germany, which wants to be climate neutral by 2045, will also become a Qatari customer.
At the end of November 2022, the federal government concluded an agreement with the emirate that guarantees around two million tons of liquefied natural gas annually for at least 15 years from 2026.
Germany is working feverishly on building LNG terminals.
(mt)