Arab gas exports increase by 54 %, led by Qatar

Arab exports of natural gas have increased by more than 50 % over the past four years with the majority of the increase coming from Qatar, according to official data.
The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), in its 2009 statistical report, said the Arab region's total gas exports rose by 54.4 % to 161.9 bn cm in 2008 from 104.8 bn cm in 2004.

Arab gas reserves stood at 53.7 tcm at yearend 2008, according to the OAPEC report, which said that Qatar has nearly half the Arab gas potential, with more than 25 tcm.
The OAPEC report said Algeria remained the leading Arab gas exporter in 2008, with its exports of 59.4 bn cm accounting for more than a third of the total Arab gas sales. But the report also noted that Algeria's exports have remained static in 2004-08, while those of Qatar have rocketed to 56.8 bn cm from 24.1 bn cm during the same period.

With 16.9 bn cm in 2008, Egypt was the third-largest Arab gas exporter in 2008, followed by Oman 10.9 bn cm, Libya 10.4 bn cm, and the UAE 7.5 bn cm.
The OAPEC report forecast that Qatar, which controls 15 % of the world's proven gas resources, will dominate the gas export trade in the region due to new projects planned for the North Field, which has more than 900 tcf of proven gas resources. Qatar produced 30 mm tons of LNG in 2008 and output could surpass 50 mm tons in 2009. By yearend 2011, Qatar is forecast to produce 77 mm tons of LNG.