Qatar will be doubling its LNG production in a few years to almost 160mn tonnes per year (tpy) in a “responsible way” with carbon capture and sequestration, HE the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi said Saturrday.
The country’s LNG production will go up from the current 77mn tpy to 142mn tpy with the operation of North Field development projects, HE al-Kaabi said and noted, “Internationally, we are adding 16-18mn tpy with our partner, ExxonMobil through the Golden Pass Project in the United States.”
The Golden Pass LNG Export Project is located in Sabine Pass, Texas.
Participating in the ‘Newsmaker interview’ at the Doha Forum 2024 yesterday, al-Kaabi said all of Qatar’s LNG ships will be fuelled by liquefied natural gas and not heavy fuel oil. This will help reduce emissions and the overall carbon footprint.
Qatar’s LNG ships will be equipped with the latest technologies, which embody QatarEnergy’s ongoing endeavour to achieve optimal fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
Al-Kaabi also highlighted Qatar’s investments in petrochemicals, fertiliser and renewable energy sectors.
“We have already announced to increase our petrochemicals production by almost 130%. This will be realised through the largest polyethylene plant in the Mena region, which we are building in Ras Laffan along with Chevron Phillips Chemical Company (CPChem).
“And in the US, we have partnered with Chevron Phillips Chemical for the Golden Triangle Polymers Plant in Texas, which is considered the biggest in the world.”
Qatar’s urea production, he said, will go up from about 6mn tpy currently to 12.4mn tpy (by 2030) with production commencing at the world-scale urea fertiliser complex at Mesaieed Industrial City.
“Now we are the second largest fertiliser producer in the world. And by 2030, we will become the largest fertiliser producer in the world. It will contribute significantly to global food security by helping feed around 160mn people around the world,” al-Kaabi noted.
Minister al-Kaabi reiterated Qatar’s commitment to “clean air and clean water” and said the country is giving a lot of push to production of renewable energy.
“In Qatar, we are working on renewables. A few years ago, we had zero renewables in Qatar. Now, 10% of the power we enjoy in Qatar comes from solar. Next year, we will add two more solar plants – one in Mesaieed and another one in Ras Laffan. At that time, solar will contribute to almost 15% of our power output.
“We will build a fourth solar plant with a production capacity of 2,000 megawatts in Dukhan. This represents approximately 30% of Qatar’s total electrical power production capacity,” al-Kaabi said.
With the addition of the new Dukhan Solar Power Plant, QatarEnergy’s portfolio of solar power projects in Qatar will reach a capacity of about 4,000 megawatts by 2030.
