A higher than anticipated power requirement for data centres and global growth has increased the demand for gas, whose market will have some oversupply between 2025 and 2030, but a shortage beyond 2030, Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs His Excellency Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said Monday.
Addressing the first plenary session 'Global LNG (liquefied natural gas) Dynamics: An Industry Perspective' at the 21st International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG2026); al-Kaabi, who is also the president and chief executive officer of QatarEnergy, said "we have expanded tremendously in gas because of our belief of the requirement for it in the future and we still have that belief."
He said the demand has increased not only due to the economic growth but also now with the growing power requirements of AI (artificial intelligence) and data center.
"The sustained power requirement as a base load has just stepped up the requirement for gas much more than we thought in the past," he said at the panel, comprising Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive, ConocoPhillips; Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive, ExxonMobil; Wael Sawan, chief executive, Shell; and Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and chief executive, TotalEnergies SE.
In discussions with developed Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, data center came up as a demand because the sector is driving up the (power) requirements, because everybody wants to have data centers on their own as sovereign requirement, al-Kaabi said.
Stressing that Qatar had taken a "courageous" decision regarding North Field Expansion when the market was down, especially during Covid time; he said "we have strong balance sheets and we have basically the belief that the market will require this volume in the future."
Stressing that a small oversupply was anticipated between 2025and 2030; he said if growth in Europe and the requirements of AI and data centers pan out, "I think there will be a shortage, instead of an oversupply, by 2030."
Referring to QatarEnergy’s expansion projects; he said the mega-projects that have been launched a few years ago would more than double QatarEnergy's LNG production from 77mn tonnes per annum to 160mn tonnes per annum, including 142mn tonnes per annum from Qatar's North Field.
"Our projects will contribute about 40% of the new global LNG supplies over the next decade,” he said.
Highlighting that China and India would be driving the main demand (for gas); al-Kaabi said a lot of Asian countries, whether Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Vietnam, the requirement "is going to be huge".
Referring to the Middle East, which has plenty of oil; he said some countries don't have enough gas, and there is a requirement for gas in the region, and there is a growth in population that needs additional power.
