Doha bans new North field work
Qatar Petroleum (QP) has extended the moratorium on new gas developments in the North field. In a statement on 19 October, QP announced that no new North field development 'is being discussed or will be discussed with any company at present. It is our assessment now that no decision will be taken on this front before 2010.' QP officials had originally said that the moratorium would be reviewed in 2007/08, once studies had been completed on the North field gas reservoir.
The QP statement made clear that domestic projects would take priority over export schemes when the moratorium was lifted. 'If we decide after 2010 to have new developments, the first priority will be given to securing sufficient reserves for our fast growing power and desalination sectors, our local industry development and then we will think about export.'
With gas demand soaring across the region, securing North field gas agreements has become of vital importance for Qatar's neighbours. Manama has been in talks for several years with Doha about a gas supply agreement, which would feed new power and water, industrial and petrochemical capacity. At the same time, Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy has been looking to confirm an additional 1,000 million-1,200 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) under a planned second phase programme on the Qatar-UAE pipeline project. The pipeline, which is expected to begin delivering first-phase volumes of 2,000 million cf/d in 2007, has a design capacity of 3,200 million cf/d.
Several international oil companies (IOCs) and regional investors have also been pursuing new liquefied natural gas (LNG) schemes. At the same time, three uncommitted GTL schemes, being promoted by the South African/US Sasol Chevron and the US' Marathon Oil Corporation and ConocoPhillips, were put on hold when the moratorium first came into force in March 2005.
The reservoir studies were launched to assess the impact of the rapid ramp-up in North field gas production. By 2011, LNG production will have tripled to 77 million tonnes a year and GTL output increased to an estimated 175,000 barrels a day.
www.meed.com/oilgas
Qatar Petroleum (QP) has extended the moratorium on new gas developments in the North field. In a statement on 19 October, QP announced that no new North field development 'is being discussed or will be discussed with any company at present. It is our assessment now that no decision will be taken on this front before 2010.' QP officials had originally said that the moratorium would be reviewed in 2007/08, once studies had been completed on the North field gas reservoir.
The QP statement made clear that domestic projects would take priority over export schemes when the moratorium was lifted. 'If we decide after 2010 to have new developments, the first priority will be given to securing sufficient reserves for our fast growing power and desalination sectors, our local industry development and then we will think about export.' With gas demand soaring across the region, securing North field gas agreements has become of vital importance for Qatar's neighbours. Manama has been in talks for several years with Doha about a gas supply agreement, which would feed new power and water, industrial and petrochemical capacity. At the same time, Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy has been looking to confirm an additional 1,000 million-1,200 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) under a planned second phase programme on the Qatar-UAE pipeline project. The pipeline, which is expected to begin delivering first-phase volumes of 2,000 million cf/d in 2007, has a design capacity of 3,200 million cf/d. Several international oil companies (IOCs) and regional investors have also been pursuing new liquefied natural gas (LNG) schemes. At the same time, three uncommitted GTL schemes, being promoted by the South African/US Sasol Chevron and the US' Marathon Oil Corporation and ConocoPhillips, were put on hold when the moratorium first came into force in March 2005. The reservoir studies were launched to assess the impact of the rapid ramp-up in North field gas production. By 2011, LNG production will have tripled to 77 million tonnes a year and GTL output increased to an estimated 175,000 barrels a day. www.meed.com/oilgasThis content is only available to full MEED package subscribers (MEED magazine and MEED.com).
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