Qatar to increase gas production amid GCC rift

Qatar Petroleum said it is boosting its natural gas production by adding a fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) production line to raise capacity from the North Field to 110 million tonnes a year.

The world’s top supplier of LNG said on Wednesday output from the field, which is shared with Iran, will now rise from 77 million tonnes a year.

“Based on the good results obtained through recent additional appraisal and testing, we have decided to add a fourth LNG mega train,” said CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi in a statement.

“The production increase will also contribute to Qatar’s economic growth and stimulating the economy, as well as the country’s overall development.”

Last year, Qatar Petroleum announced it was planning to develop additional gas from the North Field and build three new LNG mega-trains.

This move comes more than a year after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing it of harbouring “terrorism” – an allegation Doha strongly denies.

The new project will produce about 32 million tonnes a year of LNG, 4,000 tonnes a day of ethane, 260,000 barrels a day of condensate, and 11,000 tonnes a day of LPG, in addition to about 20 tonnes per day of pure helium, Qatar Petroleum said.

This will increase Qatar‘s total production capacity from 4.8 million to 6.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.