The Gulf nation’s massive gas supplies have made it rich, allowing it to create a wealth fund that has been buying up assets, including stakes in listed companies

GAS-RICH Qatar is ploughing more of its commodity wealth back into the sector with the purchase of a major stake in Royal Dutch Shell, while also reportedly eyeing a chunk of Italian oil major Eni.

Amid much fanfare in Doha, Qatar’s RasGas signed a long-term LNG supply deal with Taiwan’s CPC, with Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson in attendance for the signing ceremony

EXXONMOBIL built a strong lead over its rivals in Qatar over the past decade, and still holds the dominant position, with sizeable stakes in nearly all of the country’s 14 LNG trains. However, competitors such as Royal Dutch Shell and Total are now snapping at its heels, encouraged by a tiff between Exxon and the Qataris in 2010, says an analysis by the Energy Intelligence Group.

QPI is working very hard with its international partners to buy up assets. Upstream opportunities, however, are getting scarcer not because they are too expensive but because of the expectations of sellers in view of current oil prices

QATAR Petroleum International, the cash-rich overseas arm of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, is seeking upstream assets and may announce an acquisition at any time, CEO Nasser Jaidah says. QPI was satisfied with the downstream gas and petrochemical assets it has but realises it has a gap in terms of upstream assets.

Top energy executives at Qatar Petroleum want upgrades to coincide with the mandatory five-year servicing of its fleet, which starts next year and lasts until 2015, to minimise disruption to trade

QATAR, the world’s biggest LNG producer is about to approve the overhaul of 45 of its largest tankers from 2012 to 2015 to burn natural gas after the decision to run them on petroleum fuel backfired when oil prices rose, senior industry sources say.

Total and Novatek are meanwhile seeking a new partner for the high-cost project and Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko has been pressing the Russian case for Qatari participation in Doha in recent days

QATAR Petroleum is interested in securing a stake in the Yamal LNG project in the Arctic as well as a stake in independent Russian gas producer Novatek, a move that would match the world’s leading LNG exporter with the world’s unchallenged natural gas power.

The DHT unit, which will produce diesel with less than 10 ppm sulphur content with the Euro 5 specification, will be built and integrated into the existing Laffan refinery

QATARGAS has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Samsung Engineering for a diesel hydrotreater (DHT) unit that will treat 54,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) of diesel, from high-sulphur into ultra-low-sulphur diesel fuel, at the Laffan refinery.

The training initiative solidifies the already strong relationship between Centrica and QP, as both look to further take advantage of the emerging opportunities

CENTRICA, the parent company of British Gas, together with Qatar Petroleum is celebrating the company’s UK-based exchange programme that has opened up new avenues of collaboration and transfer of knowledge and exchange for young professionals from the Qatari oil and gas industry.

Qatar LNG exports are expected to rise to 73 million tonnes, mostly as a result of greater Asian demand

QATAR is poised for a sharp rise in the value and volume of its exports of the super-cooled fuel this year, benefiting from the troubles in Japan’s nuclear industry and from surging demand for energy elsewhere in Asia.

Analysts say the Qatari drive to diversify abroad is unlikely to ease because it is expected to stick to its moratorium on new projects in its North Field, the world’s biggest single gas reservoir, which Qatar shares with Iran

QATAR is scanning the globe for multibillion-dollar energy investments in hopes of diversifying its income and vastly expanding its international energy reach.

The facility will support Emerson’s end-users in Ras Laffan Industrial City by providing comprehensive services for Fisher control valves, the DeltaV digital automation system and Rosemount measurement technologies

DOPET (Doha Petroleum Construction Co Ltd), one of the largest contracting companies in Qatar and an Emerson business partner, and Emerson Process Management, a global business of Emerson offering the most innovative and broadest array of process automation solutions, have launched a new service facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar.

Extensive R&D has taken place at Bohler in Germany to arrive at a full consumable range for the new generation of CrMo(V) steels

HIGH temperature resistant and hydrogen resisting CrMo(V) steels have been around for a very long time and have found use with great success for applications in the petrochemical and the power generation industries.

The agreement follows a joint feasibility study conducted by QP and Shell. QP will hold an 80 per cent equity interest, with Shell holding the remaining 20 per cent

ROYAL Dutch Shell has signed a deal with Qatar Petroleum (QP) for the development of an estimated $6.4 billion petrochemical complex in Ras Laffan, deepening the strategic relationship between the two companies at a time when their joint-venture Pearl gas-to-liquids (GTL) project is approaching full capacity.

QP has completed the financing of its Barzan gas project despite a difficult economic climate

QATAR Petroleum (QP) and ExxonMobil have launched the Barzan Gas Project, at a cost of $10.3 billion, to supply the local Qatari market with natural gas with first-phase production of 700,000 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) due to come online in the third quarter of 2014.

QP’s dominance of dollar financing in Qatar dates from when it embarked on a series of investments in liquefied natural gas some 10 years ago. Having reached its targets last year, Qatar is now the world’s largest exporter of LNG

QATAR Petroleum’s finance director, Abdulrahman Al Shaibi, is the most powerful man in Qatar outside the royal family, says a banker. At international banks, this is especially true for bankers in loans and debt capital markets.

By 2020, Australia may eclipse Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporting country. Australia is now the fourth-largest LNG exporter

QATAR is planning to tighten its grip on the liquefied natural gas supplies vital for Asian economic growth by possibly buying into an Australian export boom that poses the only serious challenge to its place as the world’s top LNG exporter.

The firm’s approach to GTL sales maximises product availability to a diverse base of clients who seek high-performance, low-emission diesel and high-grade naphtha

ORYX GTL, the world’s first commercial gas-to-liquids (GTL) project, continues to build and diversify the international customer base for its environmentally-friendly products. Since starting commercial production in 2007, Oryx GTL, a $1 billion joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and South Africa’s Sasol, has exported more than 20mn barrels of premium GTL products, sold initially on the spot market and subsequently on three- to six-month term contracts.