Qatar Petroleum’s North Field expansion projects will be continued, said the state-owned company’s president and CEO and minister of state for energy affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi.
During a webinar organised by the US-Qatar Business Council, Al-Kaabi noted that the project is expected to raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million to 110 million tonnes per year by 2025 and 126 million tonnes per year by 2027.
The minister added that the final onshore commercial bids for the expansion project will be received by September and contracts will be awarded by the end of the year.
A statement from Al-Kaabi read: “We are going full steam ahead with the North Field expansion projects to raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million today to 110 million tonnes per annum by 2025 and 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027.”
Multiple milestones in the project have begun, including a drilling campaign for 80 development wells, insulation of offshore well head jackets, along with the reservation of capacity to build LNG ships to meet Qatar’s LNG fleet requirements in the future.
Qatar Petroleum is said to be planning international upstream expansion while continuing to farm-in and acquire exploration blocks globally.
Al-Kaabi added that the company will not decrease its production due to the price drop but would reduce spending.
The minister said: “In such a scenario of forced production curtailment because of Price, many other producers will be forced to shut down before Qatar due to their high production cost, therefore there is absolutely no way that we would curtail production.”
Noting that Qatar Petroleum will be reducing its capital and operating expenses by 30% in June, Kaabi stated: “In fact, we are going to expand and even produce more than the planned 126 million tons per annum if and when that becomes possible.”