By: Eman Ghaly
Mubasher: Qatar Petroleum signed a slew of agreements in 2018, along with witnessing milestone events, chief among them were the merger of Qatargas and RasGas, and the announcement of a strategic plan to boost liquefied natural gas (LNG) production.
In January 2018, the state-run firm announced that the merger of LNG producers Qatargas and RasGas went into effect.
In a related note, Qatar’s minister of state for energy affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi announced in December that his country would leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after more than 57 years.
Set to come into force in January, the decision is “technical” and Qatar was looking to focus on natural gas production, Al Kaabi added.
In November 2018, Qatar raised its oil production by 3,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 615,000 bpd, against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) supply cut decision, compared to 612,000 bpd in October, according to the oil-exporter bloc’s report.
Expansion Scheme
Qatar Petroleum unveiled in September 2018 that it increased the output of Qatar’s LNG production by 43%.
Qatar’s LNG production capacity registered 110 million tonnes per annum, from 77 million tonnes, according to the firm’s statement.
The step came along with the gas-rich country’s expansion project, which was announced in 2017, by adding a fourth liquefaction train.
The state-owned petroleum company added a fourth LNG mega train and included it in the ongoing front end of the project, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, president and CEO of QP, said.
By adding the fourth train, Qatar’s LNG production capacity would reach 110 million tonnes a year, which in return boosted the Gulf nation’s total production capacity to 6.2 from 4.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d).
Deals
QP announced in October the signing of a five-year sales agreement with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation.
Under the agreement, the Qatari state-run firm would supply the Japanese company with 1.2 million metric tonnes of Naphtha annually starting from October 2018.
In mid-December 2018, QP signed a sale and purchase agreement with Italy's Eni to acquire a 35% participating interest in Area 1, offshore Mexico, located in the shallow waters of the Campeche Bay, for an undisclosed amount.
By the end of December 2018, the Qatari company inked a deal to acquire a 20% stake of United Development Company (UDC) in El Seif firm.
Qatalum Listing
In May 2018, QP unveiled a plan to list 49% of its stake in Qatalum, a jointly owned by the Norwegian company Hydro, on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE).
Translated by: Ahmed Shehata
