QATAR LNG - 2024: 100 MLN MT

PLATTS - The global LNG market is not currently oversupplied and is expected to tighten in the period beyond 2024, Qatar's oil minister Mohammed al-Sada said Monday, coinciding with Qatar's additional 23 million mt/year of export capacity becoming fully operational.

Sada, in an interview with S&P Global Platts, said there could be a small LNG supply surplus in the early 2020s, but the market would remain effectively balanced until 2024 (full transcript).

"There is no LNG supply glut," Sada said. "There may be a surplus of only 10 million mt/year of LNG in the early 2020s [but] in a 350 million mt/year LNG market, this means that the market is practically in balance," he said.

A number of new LNG projects are due online in the coming years, especially from Australia and the US, and some market observers have predicted demand would struggle to keep up with the supply growth.

But strong Asian demand for LNG -- especially in China -- has seen LNG spot prices rise and the market remain tight in recent months.

A lack of final investment decisions for new projects over the past few years has also meant there could be a supply crunch in the 2020s.

"The global LNG market is expected to tighten up beyond 2024," Sada said.

This is the same time frame for Qatar to make its new 23 million mt/year of capacity fully operational.

Qatar announced its plan to increase its LNG export capacity to 100 million mt/year from the current 77 million mt/year in July last year.

Qatar, Sada said, currently supplies about a quarter of the world's total LNG.

"[Qatar] intends to remain the global leader in LNG supplies in the future as well," he said, with the 30% increase to 100 million mt/year "to be fully operational by 2024."

Under the expansion plans, Qatar will add three new 7.8 million mt/year trains.

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Earlier:

2018, June, 6, 11:59:00 QATAR IS OK BLOOMBERG - By most metrics, the embargo that closed Qatar off from major air, sea, and land links has failed. The country’s imports and exports are up, according to the International Monetary Fund. Qatar, the world’s richest country per capita thanks to massive reserves of natural gas, is on track to post a budget surplus in 2018. Its economy is growing faster than most of its peers.

2018, June, 4, 13:15:00 QATAR'S GDP GROWTH 2.6% IMF - The near-term growth outlook is broadly positive. Overall, GDP growth of 2.6 percent is projected for 2018. Inflation is expected to peak at 3.9 percent in 2018—as the impact of the value-added tax being introduced during the second half of 2018 would mostly be felt in that year—before easing to 2.2 percent in the medium term. The availability of significant external and fiscal buffers and the strong financial sector should enable the country to withstand downside risks, including lower-than-envisaged oil prices, tighter global conditions and an escalation of the diplomatic rift.

2018, March, 7, 14:15:00 IMF: QATAR IS BETTER IMF - The Qatari economy remains competitive, though there are certain areas that deserve attention. Qatar has fallen to 25th place (out of 137) in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (2017–18), down from 18 th in 2016–17. Nonetheless, it still ranks ahead of most emerging markets, a reflection of a stronger infrastructure base.

2018, January, 31, 10:45:00 SAUDI - QATAR COMPETITION BLOOMBERG - Oil exports from Qatar, one of OPEC’s smaller crude producers, to Japan last year slumped by almost a quarter to its lowest level since 1990, while shipments from giant supplier Saudi Arabia grew 8.1 percent, boosting its market share in the Asian nation to a record. Over in South Korea, imports from Qatar sank 26 percent to the least in seven years.

2018, January, 5, 23:35:00 LNG INVESTMENTS WILL UP BLOOMBERG - Energy companies will approve investments for more than 150 million tons a year of new supply capacity over the next four years, according to the report. By comparison, global consumption was 286 million tons in 2017. Projects in Qatar, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the U.S. are most economically appealing, followed by Mozambique, Australian expansion projects and an Alaskan mega-project.

2018, January, 4, 12:25:00 QATARGAS & RASGAS MERGER TOGY - The merger of the world’s largest LNG producers, Qatargas and RasGas, is complete, and the new entity, called Qatargas, has started operations, parent company Qatar Petroleum (QP) announced

2017, July, 5, 12:15:00 QATAR SHOW STRENGTH Qatar mounted what appeared to be a show of strength on Tuesday, when the state-owned Qatar Petroleum announced plans to raise liquefied natural gas capacity by 30 percent. Its immediate effect will be to worsen a glut on the LNG market where Australia, the United States and Russia vie.