The recent LNG supply agreement signed between Qatar Petroleum, Singapore-based LNT Marine, the American Bureau of Shipping and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding is “the latest sign of a new surge in gas investment that is set to shape the small Gulf state beyond the football World Cup in 202.
That’s according to GlobalData, who said over the past 10 years Qatar’s investment focus had been on the development of infrastructure for the FIFA football World Cup in 2022 to deliver stadiums and develop airports, rail and metro lines and leisure and hospitality facilities.
“The World Cup has underpinned around $13.6bn a year of project contract awards in Qatar over the past decade, with the peak years coming in 2014 and 2015, when award levels rose to around $20.9bn and $17.4bn, respectively. Since 2015, however, awards have slowed, and questions have arisen about what comes after the World Cup,” GlobalData said.
Richard Thompson, Editorial Director of GlobalData’s MEED, comments: “Part of the answer came on 8 February 2021, when Qatargas awarded a $13bn contract for the main package of the first phase of its North Field Expansion megaproject to a consortium of Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation and France-based Technip Energies. It is the biggest single EPC contract ever awarded in the region, and is redolent of the early 2000s, when investments to develop six large LNG trains propelled Qatar to become the world’s biggest gas exporter.”
Qatar’s new gas boom
GlobalData said Qatar’s projects market in the 2020s will have many similarities to the boom of the first decade of the 2000s and the similarity goes beyond LNG.
Thompson added: “Qatar’s gas projects come in parallel to the Qatar National Vison 2030, Doha’s long-term strategy to transition away from energy, diversify economically and attract investment.”
The plan includes the vigorous pursuit of investment in research and development in the hope of stimulating the formation of a broader knowledge economy.
