(DTCK) Qatar is planning to increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity after discovering mas...
(DTCK) Qatar is planning to increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity after discovering massive new gas reserves to meet the growing demand from China and other Asian countries.
According to an announcement on Sunday (February 25), this move, along with previously announced production increases in recent years, means Qatar's overall production capacity will increase by nearly 85% from current levels by the end of this decade.
These plans mark the Gulf state's bet that strong fuel demand will continue as Asian economies transition away from coal as part of efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This move also comes as the United States considers LNG export plans to assess their impact on energy security and carbon emissions.
Qatar's Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said these plans would "take Qatar's gas industry to new heights."
Qatar is currently one of the world's largest LNG suppliers and is competing with Australia and the US for the top position. The country currently has a production capacity of about 77 million tons per year but has announced plans in recent years to expand capacity to 126 million tons per year by 2027.
QatarEnergy, a state-owned company, said it would add an additional 16 million tons per year by the end of this decade, bringing the total capacity to 142 million tons per year, nearly 85% higher than current levels.
Recent studies have shown that the world's largest gas field, the North Field, contains estimated massive gas reserves of up to 240 trillion cubic feet. As a result, Qatar has increased its gas reserve scale from 1.76 trillion cubic feet to over 2 trillion cubic feet after new discoveries at the North Field gas field.
QatarEnergy CEO and Minister of Energy Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said, "These are very significant results on a large scale."
LNG demand has risen sharply following the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict as Europe tries to replace lost pipeline volumes from Russia.
While Europe and the UK are trying to reduce their dependence on natural gas to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, other countries are turning to this fuel as an alternative to coal.
In a report earlier this month, oil and gas company Shell forecasted that global LNG demand will increase by over 50%, reaching 625-685 million tons by 2040 and will continue to rise in that decade as China and Asian countries transition from coal to gas.
Tom Marzec-Manser, head of gas analysis at data and commodity valuation company ICIS, said, "As we move into the early 2030s, gas demand from Asia will be very large, and I think QatarEnergy will focus directly on that demand."
Qatar has secured two massive gas supply contracts with China in the past 15 months. In June 2023, Qatar agreed to sell 4 million tons of LNG per year to China National Petroleum Corporation for 27 years, following a similar deal with China's Sinopec in November 2022.
President Biden said in January that Qatar's expansion plans come as the US temporarily halts approval of new LNG terminals along its coastline while the country "carefully considers the impact of LNG exports on US energy costs, energy security, and the environment."
Via Tin nhanh chung khoan