Natural gas in Qatar

The natural gas in Qatar covers a large portion of the world supply of natural gas. According to Oil & Gas Journal, as of January 1, 2011, reserves of natural gas in Qatar were measured at approximately 896 trillion cubic feet (25.4 trillion cubic metres); this measurement means that the state contains 14% of all known natural-gas reserves, as the world's third-largest reserves, behind Russia and Iran. The majority of Qatar's natural gas is located in the massive offshore North Field, which spans an area roughly equivalent to Qatar itself. A part of the world's largest non-associated, natural-gas field, the North Field, is a geological extension of Iran's South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field, which holds an additional 450 trillion cubic feet (13 trillion cubic metres) of recoverable natural-gas reserves.

While Qatar is a member of the OPEC and is a significant oil producer, the government has devoted more resources to the development of natural gas in the contemporary era, particularly for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 2006, Qatar reportedly surpassed Indonesia to become the largest exporter of LNG in the world. Together, revenues from the oil and natural-gas sectors amount to 60% of the country's GDP. Domestically, the vast majority of Qatar's total energy consumption comes from natural gas (79%), whilst the balance is supplied by oil.

In 2009, Qatar produced 3.15 trillion cubic feet (89 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, three times the amount produced in 2000. Although the increase in natural-gas production fuels the growing natural-gas requirements of domestic industry and its GTL projects, the bulk of this increase is going towards LNG exports. Qatar's natural-gas consumption in 2009 was approximately 745 billion cubic feet (21.1 billion cubic metres). During 2009, Qatar exported over 2.4 trillion cubic feet (68 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, 70% of which was LNG. Qatar currently exports about 2 billion cubic feet (57 million cubic metres) of natural gas per day to the UAE and Oman through the Dolphin pipeline.

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Wikipedia