Qatar planning to corner world LNG market
The world’s biggest exporter of liquified natural gas has drastically increased production and undercut competitors in an effort to squeeze them out of the market.
Qatar has slashed prices and pushed ahead with a $29bn project to boost its LNG exports by 50%. The move signals a drive by the LNG giant to edge competitors out of the market and stymie the construction of competing gas plants.
“Qatar’s expansion plan is so huge that there are questions on the need for other supply options,” said Julien Hoarau, head of EnergyScan, the analytics unit of the French utility Engie SA.
“It’s still the number one, but the U.S. has never been so close, so Qatar needed to move if it wanted to keep its leading position.”
The transition to renewable energy has Qatar worried, even though LNG is being touted as a transition fuel from oil and coal to solar and wind.
Qatar main advantage is that it has the world’s lowest production costs thanks to an abundance of easy-to-extract gas in the giant North Filed that extends into Iran.
