Qatar continues to play a major role in the global energy market by meeting the meeting the energy demand of countries across the globe. The country has consolidated its position in energy market by retaining the title of world’s largest exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in 2017.
According to the ‘2018 World LNG Report’ released by the International Gas Union, Qatar exported 81 million tonnes (MT) last year, enabling it remain market leader with a share of around 28 percent in the global LNG trade.
The International Gas Union is a global association aimed at promoting the technical and economic progress of the gas industry.
One of the significant highlights of the report was that Qatar was much ahead of it competitors with a wide margin. Australia was the second-largest exporter with export of 56.2 MT and market share of 19.2 percent while Malaysia exported 26.4 MT with a share of nine percent. Nigeria was on the fourth place followed by Indonesia and the United States.
“Qatar continued to be the world’s leading exporter of LNG, with 2017 liquefaction reaching 81 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), followed by Australia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Indonesia, and the United States Australia and the United States led in growth of exports by increases over 2016 of 11.9 MTPA and 10.2 MTPA, respectively,” noted David Carroll, President of the International Gas Union in the report.
Qatar’s lead in the global LNG market is expected to increase further in future. Qatar Petroleum, in 2017, had announced plans to increase Qatar’s LNG output by 30 percent - from 77 to 100 MTPA.
Speaking at the 27th World Gas Conference held in the American Capital Washington DC in June this year, Qatar Petroleum President & CEO Saad Sherida Al Kaabi had said Qatar Petroleum was moving forward with its plans to increase Qatar’s LNG output by 30 percent - from 77 million to 100 million tons per year. He said “this will be a major milestone towards securing future LNG supplies to meet rising global demand.”
He added that the contracts for the production expansion project would be awarded by the end of next year, while the 100 mtpa production target would be met by the end of 2023.
The demand for LNG is bound to rise in the coming years as it is the cleanest of hydrocarbon fuels and Qatar is well placed to meeting world’s energy demand in environment friendly way.
