Qatar

Qatar is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries  or OPEC and is a significant oil producer. The Qatari government has devoted more resources recently to the development of natural gas, particularly for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG). Qatar holds the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and is the world’s largest supplier of LNG. ₁

Qatar has 15.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.² In 2008, it was the 15th largest crude oil exporter in the world, and of the 12 OPEC members, ranked 11th in crude oil exports. The onshore Dukhan field, located along the west coast of the peninsula, is the country’s largest producing oil field.

State-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) controls all aspects of Qatar’s upstream oil sector.  In 2008, the country produced approximately 1.2 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of total liquids, roughly 850,000 bbl/d of crude and 350,000 bbl/d of non-crude liquids. According to EIA, the country’s crude oil production capacity from 2008 to 2009 increased from 960,000 bbl/d to an estimated 1 million bbl/d. 

As an OPEC member, Qatar is allocated a specific production target by the organization. In mid-2009, Qatar’s implied crude production target was estimated to be 730,000 bbl/d. At current production levels, Qatar carries about 270,000 bbl/d of spare crude capacity.

Though Qatar’s petroleum production has grown steadily since 2002, its fields are maturing. To offset anticipated declines, enhanced oil recovery EOR techniques are being considered for several fields:

• Al-Shaheen which has an approximate production capacity of  340,000 bbl/d
  
• Dukhan which has an approximate production capacity of 335,000 bbl/d
  
• Bul Hanine  which has an approximate production capacity of 100,000 bbl/d
  
• [[Maydan Marjam}} which has an approximate production capacity of 100,000 bbl/d

Maersk, which has a production sharing agreement with QP, plans to raise Al-Shaheen’s production capacity to over 500,000 bbl/d using EOR techniques by 2011. Plateau maintenance programs are currently being discussed for South Dome and Al-Khaleej.

References

¹ U.S. Energy Information Administration

² According to Oil & Gas Journal,  as of 1 January 2009