With a two-phase mega-expansion already underway and an enormous new buildout now on the horizon, the small Gulf nation of Qatar is setting itself up to control about a quarter of all liquefied natural gas by the end of the decade — and with it, a growing share of the world’s influence and wealth.
Qatar’s energy minister Saad Al-Kaabi unveiled last Sunday plans to boost capacity another 13% on top of its previously announced projects, together lifting the nation’s output of LNG from 77 million metric tons per year today to 142 million tons by 2030. That puts the peninsula with fewer residents than the state of Mississippi on track to produce the equivalent of about 7.25 million barrels of oil per day. Most of that will be exported, essentially matching the oil shipments from the region’s reigning energy giant, Saudi Arabia.
And it might not stop there.
“We are going to keep appraising. If there is more that’s available to produce, we will be producing more,” Al-Kaabi said at the press conference broadcasting the news. The only thing that would stop Qatar from expanding further is if it no longer sees the demand for it, he said. “We believe there’s a huge market available there.”
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