Qatar's gas wealth sits in the offshore North Gas Field, and it left OPEC

Background

Qatar's vast natural gas reserves are primarily in the giant offshore North Gas Field, known as South Pars, which is located on Iran's side of the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, citing the Oil & Gas Journal, records that Qatar holds 11% of the world's proved natural gas reserves and almost 30% of the Middle East's reserves. Qatar was one of OPEC's longest-standing members and left the organization in January 2019, saying it wanted to shift resources away from oil to natural gas. Qatari gas moves by pipeline as well as by ship: the country's exports include gas carried through the Dolphin Pipeline to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and in 2021 Qatar shipped 2.04 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) through that pipeline. Between 2011 and 2021 its natural gas export capacity remained unchanged at 13.3 Bcf/d. In its brief of August 2023 the EIA reported that state-owned Qatar Energy planned to raise export capacity in stages to 19.7 Bcf/d once six new liquefaction trains linked to two new North Field LNG export terminal projects entered commercial service, with the major North Field expansion expected to be completed by 2028. Crude oil is the smaller side of the story: Qatar's crude oil production fell 18% between 2012 and 2017 and has been relatively flat since, hovering around 600,000 barrels per day.