S. Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, made the announcement during a press conference held today at QatarEnergy’s Headquarters in Doha.
Speaking at the press conference, S. Al-Kaabi announced that extensive appraisal drilling and testing have confirmed that productive layers of Qatar’s giant North Field extend towards the west, which allows for developing a new LNG production project in Ras Laffan.
S. Al-Kaabi said that:
- QatarEnergy has focused its efforts and attention on determining how far west the North Field’s productive layers extend in order to evaluate the production potential from those areas;
- we have continued geological and engineering studies and have drilled a number of appraisal wells in that area. I am pleased today to announce that, praise be to God, these great efforts have confirmed, through technical tests of the appraisal wells, the extension of the North Field’s productive layers further towards the west, which means the ability to produce significant additional quantities of gas from this new sector.
The Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said:
- these are very important results of great dimensions that will take Qatar’s gas industry to new horizons, as they will enable us to begin developing a new LNG project from the North Field’s western sector with a production capacity of about 16 MTPA;
- as such, the State of Qatar's total LNG production will reach about 142 MTPA when this new expansion is completed before the end of this decade;
- this represents an increase of almost 85% compared to current production levels. With the completion of this project, the State of Qatar’s total hydrocarbon production will exceed 7.25 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
S. Al-Kaabi said:
- i would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to my colleagues the managers and employees at QatarEnergy and in the energy sector in Qatar, women and men, Qataris and expatriates, who work as one family tirelessly and with dedication to advance the energy sector for the benefit of Qatar, QatarEnergy, and our partnersж
- and I would like to say: I am proud of you all.
QatarEnergy continues work to implement various elements of the North Field production expansion projects, including the North Field East project and the North Field South project.