Qatar’s head of state has said that his country’s reputation as the most stable gas producer in the world is deserved and that it was on target to produce 77 million tonnes per annum (tpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) within the next two years, according the Qatari newspaper The Peninsula and the Qatar News Agency.
Emir HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, speaking at a Bulgarian gas conference, assured the audience that Qatar deserved its position as the largest producer of LNG in the world.
“The stability and security of energy supplies globally are our prime concern and that’s one of the reasons why we are focusing on further developing our vibrant natural gas industry,” he was reported as saying.
The Emir reiterated his country’s commitment to natural gas and spoke at length about Qatar’s investment in state-of-the-art infrastructure to support the industry. Qatar currently has 54 LNG tankers and the world’s largest LNG mega-train with a capacity of 7.8 million tpa, situated in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
“Once we reach the production level of 77mtpa in two years, our share in the global LNG production will be one-third… We are keen to bring gas to you in Europe and to take it to Asia and America,” The Peninsula reported the Emir as saying.
The conference the Emir was speaking at was called Natural Gas for Europe: Security and Partnership and brought together representatives from gas consumers in the European Union and the Balkans and gas suppliers from the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caspian region.
The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin caused early controversy after deciding to boycott the event due to an argument with the host country over a pipeline project. .
