October 08, 2008

Gazprom and Qatar discuss cooperation possibilities

It is reported that Berlin hosted a working meeting between Mr Alexey Miller chairman of Gazprom Management Committee and Mr Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani Prime Minister of Qatar. The meeting discussed the prospects of Gazprom’s cooperation with Qatar in the energy sector, in particular, possible implementation of joint investment projects by Gazprom and Qatar Petroleum as well as the companies’ interaction in third countries.

Qatar is the world’s third largest country in terms of natural gas reserves after Russia and Iran and its proved reserves account for 25.8 trillion cubic meters. Indigenous gas production in Qatar considerably increased over the last 5 years to reach 43.5 billion cubic meters in 2006 and 49.5 billion cubic meters in 2007. All natural gas in Qatar is produced from the North field, on the continental shelf close to the Iranian border. Domestic natural gas consumption comes to 16 billion cubic meters, which is mainly used for power generation. Qatar Petroleum is the state monopoly in the oil and gas sector of Qatar.

Qatar is becoming increasingly important in the global natural gas market mainly due to the development of LNG production and export to the following key markets namely Asian Pacific region, EURope, North America.