North Field expansion reinforces Qatar’s global leadership in LNG production and supply

Qatar will be able to produce significant additional quantities of gas from the giant offshore North Field following extensive appraisal that confirmed huge increase in NF gas reserves.
In line with this, QatarEnergy has launched a new multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas expansion project – ‘North Field West’, which will further raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 142mn tonnes per year (MTPY) before the end of this decade, representing an increase of almost 85% from current production levels.
The latest expansion – North Field West – will require the construction of two LNG trains, in addition to the six already underway for the earlier expansions.
QatarEnergy also announced the presence of huge additional gas quantities in the North Field estimated at 240tn cu ft, which raises Qatar’s gas reserves from 1,760tn cu ft to more than 2,000tn cu ft, and the condensates reserves from 70 to more than 80bn barrels, in addition to large quantities of liquefied petroleum gas, ethane, and helium.
QatarEnergy will immediately start the basic engineering works necessary to ensure that the planned progress is achieved according to the approved schedule for this new project, which will be called the ‘North Field West’, HE the Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi, also the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, announced at a media event in Doha recently.
Al-Kaabi said: “QatarEnergy has focused its efforts and attention on determining how far west the North Field’s productive layers extend in order to evaluate the production potential from those areas. We have continued geological and engineering studies and have drilled a number of appraisal wells in that area.”
The drilling of more than 20 appraisal wells in the past 10 years using state-of-the-art technologies has confirmed significant increase in North Field (NF) gas reserves, to more than 2,000tn cu ft.
Most recently, QatarEnergy has focused on determining how far west the North Field extends in order to evaluate the production potential from those areas.
Al-Kaabi noted: “These are very important results of great dimensions that will take Qatar’s gas industry to new horizons, as they will enable us to begin developing a new LNG project from the North Field’s western sector with a production capacity of about 16 MTPY.
“As such, Qatar’s total LNG production will reach about 142 MTPY when this new expansion is completed before the end of this decade.
“This represents an increase of almost 85% compared to current production levels. With the completion of this project, Qatar’s total hydrocarbon production will exceed 7.25mn barrels of oil equivalent per day.”
The North Field expansion project, which QatarEnergy is working to implement, aims to achieve optimal utilisation and management of the country’s natural resources with the aim of contributing to what the country’s wise leadership aspires to in terms of ensuring the economic and social wellbeing of current future generations of Qatar as articulated by the Qatar National Vision 2030.
At the same time, these projects reaffirm QatarEnergy’s commitment to reinforce its global leadership in the production and supply of LNG and live up to its commitment to provide an economic, safe and reliable energy source, giving priority to environmental sustainability for a more prosperous and brighter future.