Qatar announces new gas output boost with mega field expansion

Overall expansion of North Field from 77mtpa currently to 142mtpa by 2030 represents 85 percent increase in production.

Qatar has announced new plans to expand output from the world’s biggest natural gas field, saying it will boost capacity to 142 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) before 2030.

The new North Field expansion, named North Field West, will add a further 16 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to existing expansion plans, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said at a news conference on Sunday.

“Recent studies have shown that the North Field contains huge additional gas quantities estimated at 240 trillion cubic feet, which raises the state of Qatar’s gas reserves from 1,760 [trillion cubic feet] to more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet,” said al-Kaabi, who also heads the state-owned company QatarEnergy.

These results “will enable us to begin developing a new LNG project from the North Field’s western sector with a production capacity of about 16 million tonnes per annum”, he said.

This will bring Qatar’s production capacity to 142 million tonnes once “the new expansion is completed before the end of this decade” – a nearly 85 percent rise from current production levels, al-Kaabi added.