Qatar does away with North Field moratorium

DOHA, April 3, 2017 – Qatar will lift the self-imposed moratorium on the development of the North Field, Qatar Petroleum (QP) President and CEO Saad Sherida Al Kaabi said on Monday.

QP halted the development of the giant gasfield, which it shares with Iran, in 2005 to assess the quality of the reservoir following the country’s rapid increase in production from 45.8 bcm (1.6 tcf) in 2005 to 181.4 bcm (6.4 tcf) in 2015.

The offshore North Field contains almost all of the country’s 24.5 tcm (865 tcf) gas reserves, making it the world’s largest non-associated gasfield.

“We have completed most of our projects and now is a good time to lift the moratorium,” Al Kaabi said.

“The decision today was based on results from tests we ran on the technical capability of the field. The area we are developing is in the absolute south of the north field. It is the furthest project from the Iranian border,’ he added.

QP is targeting an 10% hike in North Field output, the equivalent of some 400,000 boepd, within the next 5-7 years. The field currently produces 594 mcm (21 bcf) of natural gas per day, Al Kaabi said. Exports from the North Field are to be increased by an additional 56.6 mcm (2 bcf) per day.

Iran is working on developing the field, known as South Pars, with France’s Total. Yet, according to Al Kaabi, Monday’s decision was not prompted by planned activity across the maritime border.

“What we are doing today is something completely new and we will in future of course […] share all this with them [Iran]. For us this has nothing to do with Iran’s production,” he was quoted as saying.

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