The US President’s national security adviser had previously said that, in addition to enhancing US energy security, the Obama administration sees the gas boom as a way to bolster national security: LNG exports will give the US newfound geopolitical leverage.
Qatar, however, remains confident. LNG demand is booming and state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) sees major financing problems associated with building LNG plants to sell gas linked to UK or US markets into Asia. It thinks that even if prices drop, Qatar will be able to recover the costs of building its plants and that it will remain a low-cost producer; and Qatargas and Rasgas will still have the market influence they need by being the world’s top two producers, despite other countries’ output potentially surpassing Qatar’s. Furthermore, Qatar has other options for its gas when its first LNG joint venture agreement, Qatargas 1, expires in 2021. QP is watching the situation and no decisions have been taken yet, MEES learns. (CONTINUED - 1566 WORDS)
