Qatar Optimistic About Expansion of Joint LNG Field With Iran

Date: 27 May 2020 - 21:49

News ID: ۷۹۰۰۴

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Qatari Energy Minister and chief executive of Qatar Petroleum Saad al-Kaabi has  announced that his country intends to expand the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, i.e. its North Field (known in Iran as South Pars) gas field, and expects investment opportunities overseas, despite a slump in global energy demand and the collapse of oil prices.
As Financial Times reported, Al-Kaabi said commercial bids for the project in the North Field, the planet’s biggest natural gas field, would be delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic but insisted that all contracts would be awarded by the end of the year.
"The North Field expansion project is moving full steam ahead, no delay there. The only issue is because of Covid and suppliers and so on,” Kaabi said in a briefing with the U.S.-Qatar Business Council. "In my view, you continue your plan and invest in the bad times because these projects are long term.”
The North Field expansion project has attracted huge interest from the world’s energy majors including Total, Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, as well as others that see it as an opportunity to invest in a fuel expected to remain more resilient than oil because of its lower emissions.
Qatar Petroleum is seeking to secure partnerships for projects overseas with the same companies and is leveraging the North Field development to boost its international expansion plans.