Though many see it as a transition fuel between today’s energy mix and a future dominated by renewables, Qatar Petroleum’s CEO instead sees natural gas as the world’s “destination fuel”.
Speaking at the 19th International Conference & Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas in Shanghai (LNG2019) on 2 April, His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi labelled the energy source clean, reliable and affordable.
“While some see natural gas as a transition fuel, we believe it is a destination fuel. It is the cleanest of all fossil fuels. It is reliable, affordable, and the fuel of the future,” he said.
“The impact of energy on humankind over the past century is unmeasurable. It has powered homes and industrial plants, and accelerated production and innovation.
“In today’s very complex world, we need stable, reliable, clean and affordable sources of energy to keep that momentum. We also need a clean source of reliable energy – natural gas is that source.”
Making natural gas the world’s destination fuel
Qatar Petroleum is already the world’s top producer of LNG and plans to build on this over the coming years, having awarded the fabrication and installation of the offshore jackets to McDermott.
It has also awarded the contract for early site works required to prepare the site of the four new 8 million tonnes per annum (mpta) LNG mega-trains in Ras Laffan Industrial City to a joint venture between Consolidated Contractors Company and Teyseer Trading and Contracting Company.
Minister Al-Kaabi said: “We are in the tendering phase for eight rigs for the development drilling.
“The front end engineering and design of the onshore facilities with Chiyoda will be completed in the next few days.
“The main invitations to tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction of the onshore facilities will be issued before the end of this month.”
Speaking alongside Exxon Mobil’s chairman and CEO Darren Woods and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, the 52-year-old also touched on his company’s plans for the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Texas.
“As the largest LNG producer we are also expanding our capacity in many parts of the world,” he explained.
“This includes adding 16 MTA from our Golden Pass LNG export project in the US with our long-term strategic partner ExxonMobil – this project is under construction and should be in operation by 2024.
“It is worth noting that Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have established Ocean LNG, which is an international joint venture marketing company that will be responsible for marketing all Golden Pass LNG production.”
