UAE seeks more LNG from Qatar via Dolphin pipeline

Bloomberg/DubaiThe United Arab Emirates, which needs natural gas to meet surging domestic demand, wants to import more fuel from Qatar through the Dolphin pipeline, Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said.The UAE also will boost imports of liquefied natural gas and develop its own deposits of high-sulfur, or sour, gas, he said at an industry presentation in Abu Dhabi yesterday. The country’s energy subsidies will become unsustainable because these sources of fuel are more expensive than gas produced from conventional fields, al-Mazrouei said.“We expect to see a significant shift in the supply dynamics of gas” within the next 10 years, he said.The UAE needs gas to generate electricity for a growing population and expanding energy-intensive industries such as aluminium and steel. The country is the fifth-biggest producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and Abu Dhabi holds most of the nation’s oil.Development of new fields in Qatar would make more gas available for the UAE to import, al-Mazrouei said. He didn’t say if the UAE has agreed to buy additional Qatari gas.Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, a government-run producer, is “on course” to maximise its use of gas and oil reserves in the country’s largest emirate, Adnoc’s general manager Abdullah Nasser al-Suwaidi said at the same event.Abu Dhabi’s Shah sour gas project was commissioned on January 10 and began producing about 100mn standard cubic feet a day, and Adnoc expects it to reach full capacity of 600mn by year-end, al-Suwaidi told reporters. The country is also developing sour gas at the Bab field, al-Mazrouei said.Dolphin Energy Ltd supplies gas to the UAE from Qatar through an undersea pipeline. The company, 51% owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co, started bringing gas to the UAE in 2007 from Qatar’s North Field, the world’s largest known gas deposit.