17-05-02 Qatar is expected to attract nearly $ 25 bn in investment in eight years and nearly a fifth of the funds would be pumped into its mammoth liquefied gas projects that have already turned the tiny Gulf country into one of the wealthiest nations. Qatari officials said the funds would be invested between 2002 and 2009 and around $ 4.5 bn would be spent next year to make it a record investment year in Qatar's history.
The investments will bring to more than $ 45 bn the total capital pumped by Qatar and its foreign partners into oil, gas and other sectors since early 1990s. "The total investments between 2002 and 2009 will reach $ 25 bn compared with over $ 20 bn invested in the past 10 years," said Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal Al Thani, Qatari minister of economy and commerce, was quoted as telling an international energy symposium in London. "The bulk of these investments will be channelled into oil, gas and refining sectors... there is no doubt this will largely support our economy and diversify sources of income."

A Qatar paper at the conference said nearly $ 5 bn would be invested in new LNG projects while around $ 3.5 bn would be allocated for projects to expand the country's crude oil production capacity. Qatar has already invested at least $ 15 bn in projects to tap its giant North Sea Field, the biggest reservoir of non-associated gas in the world.
Such projects have already turned it into the top LNG producer in the Middle East, with such exports surging from only 3.9 mm tons in 1998 to 12.4 mm tons in 2001. Fresh investments could catapult the OPEC producer to the top of the list of world LNG exporters by overtaking Indonesia, as it is targeting around 35 mm tons by 2010.

Industry sources said LNG sales currently fetch Qatar as much as its oil income but most of them are being used to repay debt and meet commitments to partners and other parties. "Within two or three years, Qatar will start counting its windfall and LNG sales will fully appear in its budget... I think that by 2010, LNG revenues will be more than double the country's oil revenues," a Doha-based oil expert said. "But don't forget that a large share of those revenues will go to the government's foreign partners."
Qatar controls the third biggest gas reserves in the world after those in Russia and Iran, which both sit atop half the global gas resources. New figures disclosed at the London conference showed Qatar has massively revised up its extractable reserves of natural gas from around 500 tcf to 750 tcf.

LNG exports combined with a surge in oil prices in 2000 pushed Qatar's economy by more than 20 % in nominal terms and 12 % in real growth. It was the highest growth rate in the Middle East and the GDP extended its increase by 4 % last year when the economies of most other Arab oil producers slowed down because of lower oil prices.
The surge in 2000 turned Qatar into one of the richest countries in terms of per capita income, which stood at around $ 28,500 in 2000.