Qatar has lifted a self-imposed moratorium on development of the world’s biggest natural gas field after more than a decade, according to Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, chief executive officer of state energy company Qatar Petroleum. The giant gas field accounts for nearly all of Qatar’s gas production and around 60 percent of its export revenue. Qatar, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, declared a moratorium in 2005 on the development of North Field, which it shares with Iran, to give Doha time to study the impact on the reservoir from a rapid increase in output. Doha calls the giant gas field North Field and Iran calls it South Pars. Iran, which suffers severe domestic gas shortages, has made a rapid increase in production from South Pars a top priority and signed a preliminary deal with France’s Total in November to develop its South Pars II project.
Total was the first Western energy company to sign a major deal with Tehran since the lifting of international sanctions.
Kaabi said the decision to lift the moratorium has nothing to do with Iran’s plan to develop its part of the shared gas field. (Source: The Peninsula)