Qatar Petroleum eyes international expansion

Qatar Petroleum is exploring oil and gas in Morocco and Cyprus as it aims to expand its international business, including liquefied natural gas (LNG).

State-owned QP, the world’s largest LNG producer, has been pursuing deals in Cyprus where it “won a bid for 40 percent of a plot for exploration” and recently “went into Morocco for exploration”, Reuters cited chief executive Saad al-Kaabi as saying on Monday.

To remind, QP is merging two LNG producers, Qatargas and RasGas, to save hundreds of millions of dollars following a drop in oil prices that prompted Qatar to reduce state spending.

Qatargas is the largest LNG producing company in the world, with an annual production capacity of 42 million tonnes per annum. RasGas has a production capacity of about 37 million tonnes a year.

The report notes that Qatar’s economy has been strained by the oil slump and QP has fired thousands of staff and earmarked a number of assets for divestment.

To maintain dominance over key competitors the United States and Australia, QP is reducing costs at its domestic operations and looking to expand overseas through joint ventures with international oil companies, Kaabi said.

He added that supplies of the chilled fuel from the United States were not a threat to business, according to the report.

LNG World News Staff