Qatar’s state run oil marketing firm Tasweeq will cut condensates exports by 150 000 bpd over the next two years, Business Monitor International reported.
According to Tasweeq’s marketing director, Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, Qatar will look to process larger volumes domestically, displacing condensates exports with exports of naphtha and other higher value added, light end products.
One of the GCC largest exporters, Qatar will move from condensates to naphtha exports which will offer limited benefits, due to a softening in global demand and continuing price weakness, reprots claim.
Qatar’s decision to cut exports reflects a growing saturation of the condensates market, one factor being the rising competition from within the Middle East and the US as a global competitor.
With crude exports under sanction, Iran has been maximising the production and export of those condensates exempted from the ban.
According to data from its Custom Administration, the country exported 525 000 bpd in the first quarter of the 2014 Iranian calendar year (March 21 – June 22), a 2.4 fold year on year increase.
The bulk of Iran’s exports have flowed to Asia – also Qatar’s main export destination – which brought significant downward price pressure by selling at a heavy discount to Qatari grades.
