Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, H E Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi
Doha, Qatar: QatarEnergy plans to start production of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the US by the end of this year and North Field East (NFE) project in Qatar by mid-2026.
Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, during a panel discussion entitled ‘Global Energy Supplies & Security’ yesterday, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, H E Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said, “We will be LNG exporters from the US when Golden Pass comes online at the end of this year. Our LNG project in the US will start production end of this year, and our North Field East expansion project in Qatar will start production by mid-2026.”
Minister Al-Kaabi recognised the tremendous growth of QatarEnergy Trading and its future growth. He said: “Trading was something we started just a few years back. We are now trading around 10 million tonnes of LNG in physical trading. We will be producing 160 million tonnes of LNG, if you include the US, and we have 70 LNG ships in our fleet today and we will be adding 128 ships in a few years. So, all that will help our trading to thrive.”
Discussing relations with Asia, and particularly China and India, the Minister noted: “We have a great relationship with China. We are the largest supplier to China, and they are our biggest buyer. They are discussing with us additional volumes, and so is India, as well as many other countries.”
Speaking on gas exploration investments, he said: “We are one of the world’s largest companies in terms of having rights to exploration blocks around the world. We have been successful in some regions, but this is a continuous drive to explore more, and we’re really participating in new exploration blocks around the world. I am optimistic about the future, but it takes time.”
Commenting on the outcome of the recent visit by US President Donald Trump to Qatar, he highlighted a number of Qatari-US energy partnerships including the Golden Pass LNG export project and the Golden Triangle Petrochemicals plant with the world’s largest ethane cracker.
Minister Al-Kaabi added: “We had several deals signed during the visit. From my vantage point as chairman of Qatar Airways, we had a tender to expand our fleet, and Boeing gave us the best deal and was better than Airbus. We went ahead with that deal because it was the most commercially viable.”
Replying to a query on whether Qatar was pressured to sign those deals, he said: “President Trump is a businessman first and foremost and he understands business very well. We’ve had American companies here for the last 70 years. So, regarding pressuring us to do deals, I would say no. There was no pressure, and we are happy to do deals where they are mutually beneficial.”
Regarding the ‘incredible profits’ achieved by Qatar Airways, Minister Al-Kaabi, the Chairman of Qatar Airways, said, “We owe this excellent profit to the company’s outstanding leadership and staff, all the pilots, crew members, and ground staff. Everybody working in the company has contributed. And, of course, first and foremost, are our loyal clients who made this also possible. We will need to keep going with the same rhythm to ensure that we can continuously have good profits.”
He called for continued investments in energy projects, stressing that a fair oil price will ensure sustained production and to ensure additional reserves.
“We need somewhere in the range of 70 to 80 dollars, in my view, to be able to sustain the current production and increase.
“If you don’t have additional investment to sustain that needed energy, it is going to be damaging and will cause shortages in supply,” Minister Al-Kaabi said.
