French supermajor Total is to replace Denmark’s Maersk at Qatar’s most important oil field from next year under a revamped format, Qatar announced on 28 June. Maersk’s current 25-year 100% operating production sharing contract (PSC) at al-Shaheen expires in July 2017. This will be replaced by a joint venture comprised of Total (30%) and state oil firm Qatar Petroleum (QP, 70%).
Often seen as incidental to Qatar’s economy due to the dominance of LNG revenues in comparison, oil is set to become a more important player in Qatar’s economic mix. But not through increased oil output, which has now stabilized after falling 130,000 b/d since 2011 (MEES, 1 July), rather because LNG revenues look liable to fall further. Most analysts believe oil prices have now bottomed out, but where’s the light at the end of the tunnel for tumbling LNG prices? (CONTINUED - 1744 WORDS)
