The North Oil Company (NOC), a 70:30 joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and France's Total, will see investments of $3.5bn over the next five years in Qatar's giant Al Shaheen oilfield, whose production will be limited to 300,000 barrels per day.

This was jointly announced by QP president and chief executive Saad Sherida al-Kaabi and Total chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanne after Qatar's Prime Minister HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani inaugurated NOC that will manage Al Shaheen, Qatar’s largest offshore oil field and one of the world's largest offshore oil fields.
NOC will take over the operations of Al Shaheen, which is located in Qatari waters 80km north of Ras Laffan, for the next 25 years on Friday from Maersk Oil, whose production sharing pact expires tomorrow.
In June 2016, a development and fiscal agreement was signed with Total, in which QP licensed the rights for the development and operation of the field, and for the production, sale and export of crude oil from Al-Shaheen oil field for 25 years starting from July 14, 2017.
The first phase of the development would see drilling of 56 new wells, which would start this summer with the mobilisation of the first two rigs and a third one to be added at the beginning of next year. The first phase would be followed by two others over the next five years to further develop the field, which now accounts for about 40% of Qatar’s total oil production.
"NOC marks an important milestone in Qatar’s oil and gas industry, and will play an important role in maintaining the longest possible plateau of sustainable production levels and hence, in contributing to Qatar’s economic development over the next 25 years,” al-Kaabi said.
Stressing that QP remains committed to its obligations towards all its customers without exceptions, he said “we have demonstrated a unique ability to respect our contracts in the best ethical business practice regardless of the prevailing circumstances."
“NOC will leverage its technical capabilities to optimise the exploitation of Al Shaheen complex oil field. Our solid development plan for Al-Shaheen includes the drilling of more than 100 wells over the next five years and the implementation of new technologies in order to maintain production while preserving the highest safety standards and reducing operating costs,” Pouyanne said.
NOC is set to become a world leading offshore operator by developing one of the world's largest and most complex oil fields and by applying cutting-edge, innovative and world-class technologies.
"The transition activities were conducted successfully thanks to the strong commitment of all parties and the deployment of the best expertise by both Total and QP,” he said, adding there would be no disruption in output and deliveries of crude during the transition to Total as the field’s operator.
Assuring Qatar its total commitment to develop its partnership with QP, he said Total is "not reluctant" to invest in Qatar and is willing to further expand its cooperation in particular with new projects.