Qatar Petroleum, which is the world leader in LNG export, has stepped up its efforts to further consolidate its leadership position. The company has taken many steps this year that will take QP to new heights.
Its achievement included inauguration of the North Oil Company (NOC), a joint-venture between Qatar Petroleum owning 70 percent, and the French oil giant Total for the remaining 30 percent. The North Oil Company has successfully completed all transition activities to take over the operation of the giant Al-Shaheen Oil Field.
QP also established Ocean LNG Limited for marketing its future international LNG supply portfolio sourced outside Qatar. The company is a joint venture owned by a QP affiliate and an ExxonMobil affiliate. It was driven by its aspirations to continue to be a global LNG leader, and to invest in LNG projects outside Qatar.
It also entered into agreements with Chevron, whereby QP acquired 30 percent participating interest from Chevron 75 percent share in three deep-water offshore leases in Morocco.
In April, the US Department of Energy authorised Golden Pass Products (Golden Pass) to export domestically produced LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States.
QP made a strategic decision to merge Qatargas and RasGas into a single entity, aiming to create a world-class operator in terms of size, service and reliability, and creating great opportunities for cost savings.
Despite the unjust siege, QP has worked to maximise business opportunities and self-reliance and turn challenges into opportunities. Just few days after the siege was imposed, Qatar Petroleum and Shell Gas and Power Developments signed an agreement to develop LNG marine fueling infrastructure at strategic shipping locations across the globe.
After that, QP launched vessel-borne fueling facility for all vessels lifting any Qatari seaborne imports or exports. Within one month of the illegal siege, Qatar announced plans to raise LNG production from 77 million to 100 million tons per year, an increase by 30 percent, by doubling the size of the new gas project in the southern sector of the North Field, which QP had announced last April.
This will double the size of the project to four billion cubic feet of gas per day, which constitutes a 20 percent increase from the current North Field production rate, or about one million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
In October, a consortium comprising QP, Shell, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced the winning bidder for the Alto de Cabo Frio-Oeste block in the prolific Santos hydrocarbon basin offshore Brazil, which contains some of the most promising hydrocarbon prone areas in the world. In November, has entered into an agreement to acquire a 30 percent participating interest in the contractors interest under the exploration and production sharing agreement for Block 52 offshore in Oman, in partnership with the Italian energy company Eni.
