Qatar Petroleum (QP) strategic expansion: to invest $20 billion in U.S.
DOHA (16th Dec, 2018) – H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is the Minister of State for Energy Affairs Qatar and the President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum (QP) – the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier announced to media that Qatar Petroleum (QP) is looking to invest at least $20 billion in the United States over the coming few years.
Qatar, a tiny but wealthy country is one of the most influential players in the LNG market due to its annual production of 77 million tonnes. It plans to boost capacity 43 percent by 2023-2024 and will be building four liquefaction trains for the LNG expansion.
H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, said today – the company aimed to announce foreign partners for new LNG trains needed for an ambitious domestic scale-up by the middle of next year, but was keeping open the possibility of going it alone.
As part of its more than $20 billion investment push in the U.S. QP is looking “at gas and oil, conventional and non-conventional,” H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said.
Qatar Petroleum is majority owner of the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas, with Exxon and ConocoPhillips (COP.N) holding smaller stakes.
H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi further added that he expected to make a final decision on that investment and whether to move ahead with the Project “by the end of the year, if not January”.
Qatar is a relatively small oil producer compared to its massive gas production. Its decision to quit OPEC this month was seen as a swipe at the group’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia, which along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, has imposed a political and economic boycott on Qatar since June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism, which Doha denies.
H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said that proposed U.S. legislation known as “NOPEC”, or No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, which could open the OPEC group up to anti-trust lawsuits, was among the reasons for quitting the oil exporting club.
This announcement comes after the Gulf Arab state unexpectedly quit OPEC this month.