Qatar energy milestones

By Pratap John

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani shakes hands with HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah

From a small oil producer in the 1990s, Qatar has become the world’s largest exporter and transhipper of liquefied natural gas with 77mn tonnes per year (tpy) capacity, a significant achievement with few parallels in the global energy industry.
Since the first drop of LNG was produced 14 years ago, Qatar has grown its capacity steadily, realising the vision of HH the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani with HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah and other dignitaries including HE Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada and HE Yousef Hussein Kamal, Minister of Finance, at the grand ceremony to mark Qatar’s 77mn tonnes of LNG annual export capacity achievement

In December last year, Qatar crossed a major milestone in the global liquefied natural gas industry by achieving 77mn tonnes annual export capacity and a customer network in all corners of the world. Qatar now supplies LNG to customers in some 23 countries
Already a key petrochemical exporter, Qatar has set a target to achieve annual petrochemical production of 18mn tonnes by 2015-16. The country is investing billions of dollars in new petrochemical ventures through QP, Qapco and their affiliates.
Qatar has become a key player in the global petrochemicals industry with capabilities to produce ethylene, polyethylene and capacity build up in different types of petrochemical products such as polyethylene, polypropylene, styrene, polystyrene, aromatics and vinyl products.
In the gas-to-liquids portfolio, Qatar is fast emerging as the world’s largest producer with significant progress being made in the construction of Pearl GTL, the world’s largest gas-to-liquids project at Ras Laffan. Already, Ras Laffan is home to the world’s largest single site producer of gas-to-liquids – Oryx GTL.

HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah speaking at a ceremony to celebrate Qatar’s landmark achievement of 77mn tonnes of LNG export capacity annually

Holder of the world’s third largest gas reserves, Qatar is also investing in aluminium and fertiliser factories as the country diversifies its economy away from oil and gas.
While many other countries took decades to realise projects of this scale, Qatar did it in less than 15 years thanks to the country’s visionary leadership.
HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has given clear instructions for optimal utilisation of the country’s natural resources and the creation of a truly sustainable knowledge-based society based on the four fundamental pillars of social, economic, environmental and human development, which are envisioned in the Qatar National Vision 2030.
A team led by HE the Deputy Premier Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah worked tirelessly to realise the Emir’s vision.
Since 1992, HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah has overseen the buildup of Qatar’s capacity – in gas, oil, petrochemical and water and power sectors as Minister for Energy & Industry. While many of the country’s mega projects target the export market, Qatar has ensured that the rising local demand for gas is well met.
Recently, al-Attiyah announced the launch of the QR31bn Barzan Gas Project that would meet the rising domestic demand for gas from utilities, industrial units and infrastructure–related projects including FIFA World Cup 2022.
At the ceremony al-Attiyah said Qatar’s gas demand was rising mainly because of the country’s "impressive economic growth”.
He said, "In addition to the power and industrial sector, several mega infrastructure projects have recently been started in Qatar, and will be completed within the next 10 years. These include the new airport and seaport, education city, medical city, hospitality ventures, railway project and several real estate ventures. And we have been chosen to host the FIFA 2022 World Cup. All these projects will increase the demand for gas. Therefore, it is only prudent that we should be laying the foundation of the Barzan project now.”
Qatar has set up a world-class port at Ras Laffan to reach LNG to customers around the world. Ras Laffan Port began operations in September 1996. Since then, the port and its berth facilities have been improved significantly.
With four operational LNG berths, Ras Laffan Port is already the world’s top LNG exporting facility.
The country has also made huge investments in a fleet of specialist, state-of-the-art LNG carriers in line with its commitment of "being a reliable supplier”.