The natural gas in Qatar covers a large portion of the world supply of natural gas. According to the Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 1, 2011, reserves of natural gas in Qatar were measured at approximately 896 trillion cubic feet (25.4 trillion cubic meters); this measurement means that the state contains 14% of all known natural-gas reserves, as the world’s third-largest reserves, behind Russia and Iran. The majority of Qatar’s natural gas is located in the massive offshore North Field, which spans an area roughly equivalent to Qatar itself. A part of the world’s largest non-associated, natural-gas field, the North Field, is a geological extension of Iran’s South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field, which holds an additional 450 trillion cubic feet (13 trillion cubic meters) of recoverable natural-gas reserves.
While Qatar is a member of the OPEC and is a significant oil producer, the government has devoted more resources to the development of natural gas in the contemporary era, particularly for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 2006, Qatar reportedly surpassed Indonesia to become the largest exporter of LNG in the world. Together, revenues from the oil and natural-gas sectors amount to 60% of the country’s GDP. Domestically, Qatar’s energy supply is produced almost exclusively by natural gas (99.2%), with oil making up the rest (0.8%).
Production and exports
In 1997, Qatar began exporting LNG when it sent 5.7 billion cubic feet (160 million cubic meters) of LNG to Spain. Qatar has become the world’s leading LNG exporter next to Australia. In 2009, Qatar exported nearly 1.8 trillion cubic feet (51 billion cubic meters) of LNG. Japan, South Korea, and India were the primary destinations for Qatar’s LNG exports, accounting for about 57% in 2009. European markets including Belgium, the United Kingdom and Spain were also significant buyers of Qatari LNG, accounting for an additional 33%.
In 2009, Qatar produced 3.15 trillion cubic feet (89 billion cubic meters) of natural gas, three times the amount produced in 2000. Although the increase in natural-gas production fuels the growing natural-gas requirements of domestic industry and its GTL projects, the bulk of this increase is going towards LNG exports. Qatar’s natural-gas consumption in 2009 was approximately 745 billion cubic feet (21.1 billion cubic meters). During 2009, Qatar exported over 2.4 trillion cubic feet (68 billion cubic meters) of natural gas, 70% of which was LNG. Qatar currently exports about 2 billion cubic feet (57 million cubic meters) of natural gas per day to the UAE and Oman through the Dolphin pipeline.
In March 2011, Qatar completed its monumental cycle of LNG infrastructure expansion with the inauguration Qatar gas IV, Train 7 (80 billion cubic feet (2.3 billion cubic meters) per year), bringing the total capacity to 3.75 trillion cubic feet (106 billion cubic meters) per year. Qatari government officials have noted that they do not anticipate building any more LNG facilities in the near-term future, and that any additional capacity increases will be the result of improvements in the existing facilities.
In 2016, Qatar Petroleum has entered into an agreement with Dolphin Energy to increase exports by 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. This increase if natural gas exports to UAE is responding to increase of demand in the UAE and also matches the export gas pipeline’s supply capacity of 3.2 billion cubic feet per day.
In line with Qatar’s plans to significantly expand natural-gas production during the next five years, the country in 2018 pledged investments worth $11.6 billion in Germany, including for the construction of a LNG terminal. Qatar Petroleum thereby hopes to compete with Russian LNG deliveries to Germany amid a fierce debate in the country about its dependence on Russian LNG supply.
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For more info, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas_in_Qatar