Qatar has enough gas reserves that can last 138 years, says report

According to a report from Qatar National Bank (QNB), the country has enough gas reserves, which can be explored for 138 years at the current rate of production.

The report added that Qatar will continue to remain a dominant player in global hydrocarbon markets in the next few years.

The QNB report has been prepared based on BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, which claims that demand for clean energy will continue to rise with Qatar playing a leading role in the LNG market.

Qatar also expects that domestic demand will continue to rise and the country is developing the $10.3bn Barzan project, which will be encouraged by major investment in infrastructure projects.

The North Field gas development will commence production in the second half of 2015.

The report also expects the non-hydrocarbon sector to grow at 10.8% per year between 2015-17, driven by investment in major infrastructure projects.

According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy, the country is the third largest producer of natural gas with 5.1% of total production in the world, which is followed by the US and Russia.

The country was also the top exporter of LNG during 2014 with 31% of exports, while in terms of per capital oil and gas reserves, it has 83.6k barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2014.

Gas reserves during 2014 dropped 0.6% due to moratorium on gas exploration in the North Field.

Hydrocarbon production during the year remained steady at 5.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, which includes 3.2 million from gas and two million from oil.

The country is expecting to stabilise oil production with large scale investment, including $4bn on the Bul Hanine project, which will increase production from 40k barrels per day (B/D) to 95k B/D.