Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
QatarEnergy
Qatar's state energy company (Qatar Petroleum until October 2021), owner of the Qatari side of the world's largest single natural-gas field, the North Field, which it shares under the sea with Iran's South Pars. From one gas discovery in 1971 it built, with foreign partners, the largest LNG export system in the world: ~77 million tonnes a year (Mtpa) of liquefaction capacity at Ras Laffan by 2011, about 105 bcm/yr of gas (approx., at ~1.36 bcm per Mtpa), sold mostly on long-term, oil-indexed contracts to Japan, Korea, China, India and Europe. It turned that cost position into a route to market — 20- and 27-year sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) signed before each expansion — and into foreign policy: it left OPEC in January 2019 to concentrate on gas, rode out a three-and-a-half-year blockade by its neighbours (2017–21) without stopping a cargo, and launched an expansion to ~142 Mtpa by around 2030. Its weakness was always geography: every cargo leaves through the Strait of Hormuz. In March 2026 the Iran war proved it. QatarEnergy shut in Ras Laffan after drone strikes from 2 March and declared force majeure on 4 March 2026; strikes on 18–19 March damaged two trains with ~12.8 Mtpa of capacity (~17%), which it said could take three to five years to repair (reported). In late October 2026 force majeure was still in place for many buyers.
At a glance
- Founded
- Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (QGPC), July 1974, to take over the state's oil interests; renamed Qatar Petroleum (2001, verify year) and QatarEnergy (11 October 2021)
- Headquarters
- Doha, Qatar; LNG and industrial city at Ras Laffan; Mesaieed industrial city (petrochemicals, fertiliser, refining)
- Ownership / structure
- 100% owned by the State of Qatar. Not listed. Listed affiliates on the Qatar Stock Exchange include Industries Qatar, Qatar Gas Transport (Nakilat) and Qatar Fuel (Woqod) (QatarEnergy holds controlling or large stakes; verify each). LNG is produced through QatarEnergy LNG (the former Qatargas and RasGas, merged January 2018 and renamed 2022) with foreign partners in specific trains
- Leadership (2026)
- Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, president and CEO since September 2014 and Minister of State for Energy Affairs since November 2018; the board is chaired by the minister; the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, sets the strategy
- Products
- LNG (the core); pipeline gas to the UAE and Oman (Dolphin); condensate, LPG, helium (Qatar is one of the world's largest helium producers); crude oil (~0.6 mb/d before 2019, reported); gas-to-liquids (Pearl GTL with Shell, Oryx GTL with Sasol); petrochemicals, fertiliser, aluminium (through affiliates); international upstream stakes (Brazil, Guyana, Mexico, Namibia, South Africa, Egypt, Cyprus and others, reported) and Golden Pass LNG in Texas
- Scale
- ~77 Mtpa LNG capacity (14 trains) from 2011 to 2026; ~77–80 Mt exported a year in 2019–24, making Qatar the first, second or third largest exporter depending on the year (it led from ~2006; Australia and then the US passed it, the US from 2023) (GIIGNL, IGU, reported). North Field reserves: the company stated in February 2024 that appraisal had added ~240 trillion cubic feet (tcf), taking the total to ~2,000 tcf (company claim; in-place vs recoverable basis — verify); BP/Energy Institute data put Qatar's proved gas reserves at ~24 trillion cubic metres (~850 tcf), ~13% of the world's (reported
- Expansion
- North Field East (4 × 8 Mtpa = 32 Mtpa, FID February 2021, ~$28.75bn reported); North Field South (2 × 8 = 16 Mtpa); North Field West (16 Mtpa, announced February 2024; EPC award February 2026, reported). Target ~142 Mtpa before 2030 (company). First NFE LNG was guided for mid- to second-half 2026 before the war; now H1 2027 (reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- North Field discovery (1971); first LNG from Qatargas (1996–97); the 2005 moratorium and the 77 Mtpa megatrains (2005–11); the blockade (2017–21); leaving OPEC (2019); Golden Pass in Texas (FID 2019, first cargo April 2026); North Field East (2021); the 27-year Sinopec SPA (2022); the EU due-diligence dispute (2024–26); the 2026 Ras Laffan force majeure
10 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1971
North Field Discovery
Discovery
1996
First LNG Qatargas
Construction and commissioning / offtake contract
2005
North Field Moratorium and Megatrains
Strategy pivot (moratorium on new development) / construction and commissioning (megatrains)
2017
Blockade
Sanctions / geopolitical shock and the company's response (strategy pivot to expansion)
2019
Golden Pass with ExxonMobil
Project final investment decision / construction and commissioning (delayed)
2019
OPEC Exit
Strategy pivot (withdrawal from a producer cartel)
2021
North Field East Expansion
Project final investment decision
2022
Sinopec 27 Year Deal
Offtake or supply contract (with buyer equity)
2024
EU Due Diligence Dispute
Regulatory or legal action (dispute with a buyer jurisdiction over extraterritorial rules)
2026
Ras Laffan Force Majeure
Accident or disaster (war damage) / force majeure declaration