Qatar is sending additional volumes of gas to the UAE on a short-terms basis following the recent completion of a compressors project by pipeline operator Dolphin Energy.

Arnaud Breuillac, president of exploration and production at France’s Total, a joint venture partner at Dolphin, said the project at Ras Laffan, Qatar, has added “capabilities to export more gas to Abu Dhabi”. 

“On a short-term basis, additional volumes are flowing,” Breuillac told the press at Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (Adipec) in Abu Dhabi city on 10 November.

Dolphin Energy, a joint venture of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company, Total and the US’ Occidental Petroleum, operates a 3.2 billion cubic-foot-a-day (cf/d) capacity pipeline transporting gas from Qatar’s North Field through processing operations at Ras Laffan to the gas grid of the UAE at Taweelah.

While the current production-sharing agreement (PSA) with Qatar only covers 2 billion cf/d, the additional compressors being installed allow Dolphin’s operations to export higher volumes.

However, the two countries are still negotiating an agreement to increase exports to the pipeline’s full capacity in the long term. Qatar and the UAE are thought to be in disagreement over the price of additional gas supplies.

India’s Larsen & Toubro carried out the $250m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to install three new gas turbine compressors at Ras Laffan, which was awarded in 2012. UK-based Rolls Royce won a $136m contract in April to supply the 52MW compressors earlier that year.