Qatar looks to boost LNG trading business

Qatar plans to significantly boost its LNG trading business to complement its expanding domestic production and is not worried about a supply glut, according to Energy Minister and CEO of QatarEnergy Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, as reported by Bloomberg, the minister said QatarEnergy’s trading unit is already handling 10 million tons of physical LNG annually, more than 50% of which is non-Qatari volumes, and is seeking to increase this to around 30-40 mn tons of non-Qatari LNG by 2030.

The world’s second-biggest LNG producer typically sells its own output through long-term contracts. Some spot cargoes from Qatar are sold via QatarEnergy’s trading business, which also buys and sells third-party volumes. As global demand for LNG grows, flexible and short-term volumes allow sellers and buyers to quickly react to market volatility.

Qatar is also expanding its own production from 77 million tons now to 160 million tons of LNG, both domestically as well as at its project in the USA. The company has 70 ships today and is adding 128 more, as not all volumes will be locked in long-term contracts, Al-Kaabi said.

Al-Kaabi said there is room for growing supply from the USA, the world’s top-LNG producer, as well as Qatar. US volumes typically go to Europe and South America and Qatari LNG will predominately serve Asia. The need for the fuel and electricity is rising globally with population growth and the expansion of AI, Al-Kaabi said.

“We need all that volume,” he said. “The need for electricity and power is huge. So we are not worried at all about having a supply glut or anything like that.”

This bullish forecast for LNG demand is corroborated by Shell, which in its LNG Outlook 2025 forecasts that global demand for LNG will rise by around 60% by 2040 to reach 630-718mn tonnes a year, largely driven by economic growth in Asia, the need to decarbonise heavy industry and transport and the impact of energy-intense AI.

QatarEnergy is discussing sales of additional volumes with buyers in China and India, as well as counterparts in other countries, the minister said.

QatarEnergy continues to implement projects to expand LNG production from the North Field, the largest non-associated natural gas field in the world. The North Field East (NFE) project will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from its current 77mn metric tons per year (MTPA) to 110 MTPA. NFE represents the first phase of expansion; the second phase, the North Field South (NFS) project, will further increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 126 MTPA. A third phase, the North Field West (NFW) project, will boost Qatar’s LNG production to 142 MTPA by the end of 2030.