60 years of projects: Oil & gas

30 April 2017

Hydrocarbons projects have put the Middle East on the world stage

 Landmark oil and gas schemes

Landmark oil and gas schemes

From the continued expansion of Saudi Arabia’s workhorse refinery at Ras Tanura to the completion of the $19bn Pearl GTL plant in Qatar in 2011, the Middle East has delivered an extraordinary array of oil and gas projects during MEED’s 60-year history.

Selecting just 12 landmark schemes that have shaped the industry since 1957 has proven a difficult task because each project has contributed to the region’s economic transformation by adding to the wealth generated by the sector.

Arguably, the discovery of the Umm Shaif oil field in Abu Dhabi in 1958 and its subsequent exploitation could be considered the single most important project as it has enabled the development of the UAE into a modern, diversified economy. And it is the UAE that many international firms, including MEED, have chosen as their base from which to do business across the Middle East.

But equally momentous was the discovery in 1971 of Qatar’s North Field, the world’s largest gas reservoir. The construction of 14 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains turned a country on the brink of bankruptcy into one of the world’s richest. However, it must not be forgotten that the pioneer of the LNG industry was Algeria, which sent out the world’s first shipment of LNG from a terminal at Arzew in 1964.

 

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