Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida Al-Kaabi expected, on Wednesday, that his country would sign more long-term agreements to supply natural gas this year, to meet the growing global demand.
Al-Kaabi, who also holds the position of CEO of the giant state-owned Qatar Energy Company, said: “During the past year, the latter guaranteed the sale of 25 million tons of liquefied natural gas and expects to sign more agreements this year.”
The minister stressed during the Qatar Economic Forum held in Doha, “It is only a matter of agreeing on terms, conditions, and prices… but I think there is a great demand, whether from Asia or Europe.”
He added, “I think even Europe now realizes that it has to do something different to ensure long-term supplies.”
Qatar is one of the leading countries in producing liquefied natural gas in the world, along with the United States, Australia and Russia.
The Asian countries (China, Japan, and South Korea in the lead) constitute the main market for Qatari gas, but European countries have increasingly flocked to it since the start of the war in Ukraine, to reduce their dependence on Russian gas.
- North Field expansion
Last February, Qatar announced plans for a new expansion of the North Field, indicating that this would lead to raising its production to 142 million tons annually by 2030.
Al-Kaabi stressed that there may be a greater increase in Qatar’s liquefied natural gas production capacity.
He said: “The technical ability to provide more in Qatar will be evaluated in the future, and if there is more, it is likely that we will do more.”
The North Field, the largest natural gas field in the world, extends under the waters of the Gulf to Iranian territory and contains about 10% of the known natural gas reserves in the world, according to estimates by Qatar Energy Company.
In recent months, Qatar has concluded contracts for the supply of liquefied natural gas with a number of international energy groups, including France’s Total, Britain’s Shell, India’s Petronet, China’s Sinopec, and Italy’s Eni. (AFP)