Qatar has reportedly delayed the start-up of its Barzan gas project because of a leak discovered in a gas pipeline.
The $10bn worth project, a RasGas-operated joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil, is designed to meet rising domestic energy demand in the Gulf state as it prepares to host the football World Cup in 2022.
After repeated delays, the project’s first phase was due to start in November, boosting Qatari gas production capacity by up to 2bn cubic feet per day when it reaches capacity in the first half of 2017. But a leak was discovered in recent weeks, according to Reuters.
“There was a gas leakage in one of the project’s upstream pipelines, the impact of which is still being assessed,” said a Doha-based source told Reuters. “A start-up this year is unlikely.”
The source declined to comment on the size of the leak or whether it had been fixed.
The delay to Barzan is a setback for Qatar, which has said the project will sustain economic growth at a time of weak state revenues due to low oil and gas prices.
Doha’s projections for an increase in gross domestic product in 2016 were partly based on output from the project starting by the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.
Qatar, the world’s leading liquefied natural gas exporter, faces growing domestic energy needs as it pursues a $200bn infrastructure upgrade before the World Cup as well as expansion of its national airline, Qatar Airways.
Much of the production from Barzan, located in the North Field gas reservoir off the coast of Qatar, will be directed to the power and water sector, RasGas has said.
