The implications of the US shale ‘gale’ are not confined to LNG for Qatar. Like other Gulf countries, the emirate is having to formulate a response to the prospect of growing condensate exports from the US. With Qatar maintaining a moratorium on new LNG developments, the potential for production growth in Qatar will be limited to output from the 1.4bn cfd Barzan wet gas project, scheduled to come onstream in 2016. With investments of $10.3bn, Barzan was the last project approved before the moratorium on North Field developments was put in place in 2005, representing the final foreseeable condensate increment.
Condensate weighs heavy in Qatar’s hydrocarbon revenue. The value of LNG, condensates, propane and butane exports reached $91.9bn in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund – with LNG sales representing almost 62 % and condensates 29%. The figure is projected to gradually slip to $60.4bn by 2019, with condensates share dropping to 23%. (CONTINUED - 1029 WORDS)
