The progression of Qatar's natural gas industry and its role in global energy market

Abstract

Qatar is the third largest country in the world in natural gas reserves with almost 900 trillion cubic feet. Since the mid of 1980s, after deep studies of the general prospect, Qatar has started to develop its largest field of natural gas "the North field" through various phases. In 1991, the first production of 800000 million cubic feet daily was received optimistically by domestic industrial companies, which was highly demanded; this successful phase indicates that the other plans can be continued. After more than two decades of highly active processes, the market of Qatar's natural gas, including the national, regional as well as the international has become wider and more fundamental. The aim of this paper is to show the gradual development of Qatar's natural gas market in different time points until 2011. The paper will also evaluate the role of Qatar in gas industry compared to other important players in the field.