QATAR GAS: 138 YEARS

The Qatar National Bank (QNB) said Monday that its natural gas reserves are large enough to maintain current production rates for the next 138 years.

The state-controlled bank is basing its assessment on new data for 2014 that was included in BP's most recent "Statistical Review of World Energy."

According to the report, Qatar was the third largest natural gas producer in the world last year, accounting for 5.1 percent of the world's total natural gas production.

The country was also the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas in 2014, with 31 percent of global exports coming from Qatar.

QNB said in its weekly commentary that BP's report indicates the country's oil and other liquid reserves grew by 2.6 percent last year to 25.7 billion barrels, thanks to growing exploration and development activity.

The bank added that Qatar's gas reserves slipped by 0.6 percent in 2014 due to a moratorium on further gas development and exploration in Qatar's North Field, an area that holds the majority of the country's gas reserves.

Qatar's total hydrocarbon output was "virtually unchanged" in 2014, with the country pumping about 5.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, QNB said.

According to QNB, Qatar produced about 3.2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day from gas and 2 million barrels of oil per day in 2014.

The country's total gas production ticked up by 0.4 percent in 2014, although the small bump was offset by an 0.8 percent dip in oil production as Qatar's oil fields continue to mature.

Despite the dip in natural gas production, the bank said Qatar "has enough gas reserves to maintain production at current rates for 138 years and is therefore likely to remain central to global hydrocarbon markets for a number of years to come."

Qatar's oil production is expected to stabilize this year and lead to an increase in real GDP growth in the hydrocarbon sector of 0.8 percent in 2015, 1.8 percent in 2016 and 1.9 percent in 2017.

The bank added that, in terms of oil and gas reserves per capita, Qatar is still "well ahead" of the other major oil and gas producers with 83,600 barrels of oil equivalent in 2014.

petroglobalnews.com