Building On Resilience: QP Chief Talks Embargo & LNG Plans With MEES

8 Dec 2017 Issue: 60 / 49

Six months to the day since the Qatar dispute rocked the traditionally tranquil GCC, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, CEO of state oil and gas giant QP spoke exclusively with MEES in Doha about how the state firm has adapted to the restrictions and on QP’s bold expansion plans. Lightly edited transcript follows.

Q: Good morning, thank you for taking the time to speak to MEES. The Qatar embargo started exactly six months ago. Efforts to isolate Qatar have included restrictions on Qatari vessels calling at ports for co-loading and bunkering. This must have been extremely disruptive for Qatar Petroleum’s operations. How have you mitigated the impact?

A: When I was appointed as CEO three and a half years ago (MEES, 19 September 2014), I had a different vision for QP. We had to focus on our core businesses, and so I made sure that we consolidated our subsidiaries to become fully aligned. As you saw, the international arm Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) was folded into QP (MEES, 30 January 2015). The marketing arm was folded into QP. We restructured the business to have a flatter, more focused organization. We got out of all non-core business and optimized, put in a lot of efficiencies (MEES, 26 June 2015). (CONTINUED - 5141 WORDS)