Qatar National Bank has claimed the Gulf state has enough gas reserves to maintain current rates of production for the next 138 years.
QNB 2014 statistics released in BP’s latest Statistical Review of World Energy indicate that in terms of oil and gas reserves per capita, Qatar remains ahead of the other major oil and gas producers.
However, gas reserves in Qatar fell 0.6% in 2014 as a result of extraction policies and a state-imposed ban on further gas exploration and development in Qatar’s North Field, where most of its reserves are located.
Total hydrocarbon output was almost unchanged in 2014 at 5.2mn barrels of oil equivalent per day – also due to the moratorium, the report revealed. As a result, gas production only crept up in 2014 by 0.4%.
But Gulf Times reported that QNB said large investment projects – for example, the $4bn plans by Qatar Petroleum to redevelop facilities at the offshore Bul Hanine oil field and increase production from 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 95,000 bpd, and heavy national investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in recent years – would help to stabilise production.
The newspaper said Qatar remains the third largest producer of natural gas in the world after the US and Russia with 5.1% of global production.
The country is also the world’s top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with 31% of total global exports in 2014.
This will provides a stable source of income for other national infrastructure investments that are intended to diversify the economy, QNB said.
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