“The engineering part of the expansion is moving full steam ahead. We are in the initial engineering phase (of designing) for expansion. That’s going full steam ahead. It has nothing to do with the partnerships and the structure of how we are going to form the joint venture or who the partner is. That’s also being worked in parallel.”
Al-Kaabi said, “As you would expect, all companies in the world that are based either here in Qatar or outside and interested in expanding in liquefied natural gas are knocking on QP’s doors. That’s being looked at… and evaluated. We will make a decision at the right time as to who our partners are. There could be multiple partners… because this is a big development.”
Al-Kaabi emphasised that Qatar would “continue investing in gas.”
Earlier QP had said the new production from the North Field, which is the largest non-associated natural gas field in the world, was expected within five to seven years.
Qatar’s plan is to develop an export-oriented gas project in the North Field. However, Qatar Petroleum has not yet decided if exports will be in the form of LNG, GTL or pipeline gas.
Since 2005, Qatar Petroleum has been conducting extensive studies and exerting exceptional efforts to assess the North Field, including drilling a number of appraisal wells to better estimate the field’s production potential.
Al-Kaabi emphasised that Qatar would “continue investing in gas.”
“I see a very rosy picture in the energy market going forward,” al-Kaabi said. “We see gas growth is continuing for a very long future with no real peak gas, if you want to call it that. We have absolutely no doubt that we will continue investing in gas…because the future is gas. We are hearing a lot about electric cars… but to generate electricity, we need gas. Electricity does not come out of the air. So we are not worried at all.”
He said, “We have made huge investments in developing the LNG industry here and growing rapidly- externally. Externally, we are growing in a big way.
“Certainly, there is a glut in the market currently. But we are talking about projects in the five to seven years horizon, where we expect a big demand for energy.”
Al-Kaabi also confirmed that Qatar Petroleum is interested in investing in the upstream business of the Iraq's energy sector.
“I have met Iraq’s minster personally and conveyed our interest in investing in Iraq’s upstream business. He has welcomed that subsequently.
"Iraq is a very important country in the region…very important in our oil and gas business. It has huge resources, but needs a lot of investment to bring it back to the prominence it has had. And I think they are heading in the right direction as a country and as a government. We are interested in developing Iraq’s upstream business in the energy sector, if invited to do so. We are looking at the best ways of entering that market," al-Kaabi said.