Qatar's state-owned energy company Qatar Petroleum aims to increase natural gas production by 10 percent from a vast underwater field, the company announced Monday.
As part of the company's goal to develop new gas in the southern sector of the North Field, in the northeastern coast of Qatar, the company will commence work on the project over the next few months, according to the company statement.
The North Field is the largest non-associated natural gas field in the world, with recoverable reserves of more than 900 trillion standard cubic feet or approximately 10 percent of the world’s known reserves.
'Qatar Petroleum’s technical studies and assessment of the North Field have confirmed the potential for developing a new gas project that can be targeted for export with a capacity of about 2 billion cubic feet per day,' Qatar Petroleum's President & CEO Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said in the press release.
According to Al-Kaabi, the new project will increase the current production of the North Field by about 10 percent, which will add about 400,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent to the Qatari state’s production.
Qatar was the world’s fourth-largest dry natural gas producer in 2013 (behind the United States, Russia, and Iran), and it has been the world’s leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter since 2006, with 31 percent of market share in 2014.
Since 2005, Qatar Petroleum has been conducting extensive studies and exerting exceptional efforts to assess the North Field, including drilling a number of appraisal wells to better estimate the field’s production potential.
As a minor but wealthy member of OPEC, Qatar is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world, and the country’s exports of LNG, crude oil, and petroleum products provide a significant portion of the government's revenues.
By Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu
Anadolu Agency
muhsin.tiryakioglu@aa.com.tr