Qatar to spend US$25 bln to support petrochemical production expansion

31-Jan-12

Qatar has earmarked US$25 bln to support the expansion and development of its domestic petrochemical industry over the next decade. As per Mohammed Al-Sada, Qatari Energy Minister, the expansion is estimated to increase the country's petrochemical production capacity to 23 mln tons by 2020 from the current 9.2 mln tons, Qatar News Agency reported. The oil producer, which became the world's biggest LNG exporter over the last decade, had imposed a moratorium on further export development of its huge North Field until 2014. The site is the source of its massive gas reserves. The LNG process entails cooling the gas to a liquid, thus can be transported over long distances by tanker instead of just via pipeline. It is re-gasified on the receiving end and injected into existing transit pipeline systems for delivery to consumers. Qatar forecasts its LNG output at 77 mln tons annually until 2015. This may increase depending on the speed of eliminating blockages from existing facilities.