Qatar to be #1

Qatar will become the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) within two years, Qatar's First Deputy Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr a-Thani stated in an interview for the local channel of CNBC during the weekend. The deputy prime minister stated that within two or three years Qatar will be the largest producer of LNG and within five years it will be "far ahead".

Currently Qatar produces 15mn tons of LNG per year but the state-run oil and gas company Qatar Petroleum (QP), together with its international partners, plans to invest some QAR 83bn (USD 22.8mn) in the sub-sector to increase production to 60mn tons per year by 2010.