Qatar is expected to begin producing gas from its ambitious Barzan gas project ‘later this year’, according to a report.
The project will meet Qatar’s growing domestic gas demand, the Qatar National Bank’s (QNB) ‘economic commentary’ on Qatar noted.
RasGas, the owner and operator of the Barzan, says it will be developed in two phases: Train 1, which came on stream in 2014, and Train 2. Together, the project is expected to supply around 2 billion standard cubic feet per day of sales gas.
“Much of this production will be directed to the power and water sector,” RasGas says.
When the Barzan gas project becomes fully operational, the total offshore production from all RasGas-operated facilities will reach around 11 billion cubic feet per day (or 2 million barrels of oil), making RasGas the largest gas producer in Qatar.
The drilling platform to supply the Barzan Gas plant will be located 80 kilometres north-east of Ras Laffan Industrial City.
According to data, Qatar’s domestic gas consumption grew by 80% in the last five years, from 24.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2009 to 44.8bcm in 2014.
“The rise is driven by increasing demand for electricity and water, as electricity and water desalinisation sectors account for most of the natural gas consumption in Qatar,” QNB observes.
Qatar’s economy grew by 4.7% in Q2 2015, largely driven by the non-hydrocarbon sector – which grew by 9.1%, and increased its share of the national GDP to 61.7%.
The hydrocarbon sector’s GDP remained largely unchanged in Q2, rising by only 0.9% year-on-year. Production remained stable, due to maturing oil fields and the moratorium on further gas production from the North Field which Qatar shares with Iran (where it is known as the South Pars gas field).
However, once the Barzan project begins operational, gas production in Qatar will increase, and the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics expects economic growth to further accelerate to 6.4% in the 2016-17 fiscal year.
