Qatar, the world’s main exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Russia’s competitor in the energy market, has conceived a mega-project that will allow it to maintain global dominance in the supply of this type of fuel. Bloomberg reports.
Over the past decade, LNG production in the United States, Australia and other countries has been growing, while Qatar has not increased its capacity. The kingdom is now set to implement the world’s largest LNG expansion project to remain the industry leader. Investments in construction work alone will amount to about $ 13 billion. The total cost of the megaproject is expected to be approximately $ 29 billion.
Qatar plans to increase production capacity by 43 percent. If the kingdom now gives an average of about 77 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year, then after expansion the figure will grow to 110 million. Part of the gas volumes produced after the project has already been reserved for consumers from Europe, which is the main market for Russian raw materials. It is expected that the first gas under the megaproject will be produced in the fourth quarter of 2025. By 2027, Qatar plans to complete the expansion in full. By the same date, Qatar intends to increase its LNG production to 126 million tons per year.
Last year, Qatar accounted for 26.5 percent of all supplies of liquefied natural gas in the world. Australia came in second with a minimal margin (almost 26 percent), followed by the United States (14.7 percent). Russia came in fourth with less than 10 percent, according to Bloomberg data.