Qatari expansion: Build it and they will come?

The major brake on the Gulf’s state’s ambitions may not be resource, but rather customer appetite

Qatar lifted its 12-year moratorium on further development of the vast offshore North Field in April 2017 and, three years later, is steamrolling forward with the largest LNG expansion the industry has ever seen. If it so desired, Qatar could fund and construct almost unending expansions to what is already a 77mn t/yr, 14-train liquefaction operation. Qatar Petroleum (QP) has emphasised the vast scalability by continuing to broaden its growth plans. The 2017 North Field East expansion (NFE), initially targeting 100mn t/yr export capacity, was upped again to 110mn t/yr in 2018. Then, as if the NFE was not enough, the North Field South (NFS) expansion aims to take capacity to 126mn t/yr. While