 Alexey Miller, chairman of the Gazprom management committee, accompanied by a top level delegation flew into Qatar last week to discuss the involvement of the Russian energy giant in new field development and process projects in Qatar.  A moratorium currently forbids any new gas field development until 2014.Â
Meetings were held with Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar; Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and Industry, Qatar Petroleum Chairman and Managing Director.
The parties discussed the outlook for Russian-Qatari cooperation in the energy sector, current trends on the global gas market, and issues of strategic development of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
The Qatari party proposed Gazprom to participate in the natural gas production and liquefaction project in Qatar after 2014 when the moratorium on expanding gas production in the North field might be lifted. The proposal was taken by Gazprom’s representatives with interest.
A statement to the press said the Gazprom delegates agreed with their Qatari counterparts that current prices for gas were much lower than those for the equivalent volume of oil, as well as that the gas price would further approach the oil price (in terms of the energy equivalent).
