Oil and Gas constitute the backbone of Qatar’s Economy. The State of Qatar exerts efforts to diversify its sources to alleviate the country’s dependence on these natural resources of crude Oil which amounts about (850 thousand barrels per day, and Gas about (18 billion cube foot per day) produced from the North Field which holds Gas reserves of about (380 trillion cube foot) and associated gas.
The Qatari leadership endeavors to increase production capacity of the liquefied natural Gas (LNG) to be more than (60 million Ton per year), knowing that the current production is (18 million ton/day); the majority of the GDP relies on Oil and Gas and the relevant industrial activities.
Established in 1974, the government-owned Qatar Petroleum is responsible for all oil and gas industry in Qatar. Oil is produced from onshore and offshore fields, the most important of which are:
Dukhan onshore field; Al Idd Al Sharqi; Maydan Mahzam, Bul Hanain, Al Bunduk, Al Shaheen, Al Rayan, Al Khalij, Al Karkara and offshore Tabakat (A).
The North Gas Field
Discovered in 1971, this field lies mainly offshore to the northeast of the Qatar peninsula under water depths ranging from 15 to 70 meters. It covers about 6000 square kilometers, almost half the area of mainland Qatar. NGF is the largest single concentration of non-associated natural gas in the world with total proven reserves of more than 900 trillion cubic feet, representing 20% of world total, and making Qatar the third country in the world with the largest reserves of natural gas after Russia and Iran.
The North Gas Field constitutes catalyst for investments in gas production and utilization due to the abundance of natural gas one site and favorable geographical and weather conditions that facilitates production and reduce costs in comparison to other sites in the world. Based on those huge reserves of the North Gas Field and advantages of gas as a clean, safe and long life source of energy, QP formulated a phased strategic plan to develop the field and rationalize the utilization of its resources to secure new financial returns through exporting gas in liquefied form of through pipelines, establishing new industries based on gas and building new port at Ras Laffan.
Established in 1974, Qatar Petroleum is a national government-owned corporation responsible for all sectors of Qatar's oil and gas industry in the country and abroad, including exploration and drilling operations for oil, natural gas and other hydrocarbon substances, their production, refining, transport and storage; as well as the sale, distribution and export of these products alongside with their derivatives and refined and by-products. Qatar petroleum's capital is QR5 billion.
The ministry of energy and industry assumes the responsibility for planning and supervising the implementation of the strategy of oil, gas and relevant industries within the Ministry’s general policy.
The state continues, through QP, to execute its plans aiming at increasing oil reserve and production capacity through the continuous efforts of its highly-efficient manpower to develop the onshore and offshore fields
As the State of Qatar workd to be the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world, it has set up two LNG joint ventures projects, they are:
- Qatar Company for LNG Ltd. “Qatar Gas”
- Ras Laffan Company for LNG Ltd. “Ras Gas”
Qatar Gas was established as joint a venture with limited liability in 1994 between QP, French Total FinaElf, the American Exxon Mobil and the Japanese Mitui and Marubeni. It started production in 1997and it currently produces five major products: LNG, field non-processed condensates, plant condensates, Helium and Sulfur.
In the near future it will start producing three additional products for export: precious LNG, Liquefied Petroleum Gas and the processed petroleum condensates.
The company was established in 1993, and initiated production in 1999. The company is a joint venture between QP, the American Exxon Mobil, the Korean Kogas and the Japanese companies LNG Japan and Itochu. The company produces LNG two trains. His Highness Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani the Emir of Qatar inaugurated the third train in Ras Laffan Industrial City in March 2004. It is one of the most important projects that were 100% funded by QP.