Qatar pulls LNG investment trigger as crown slips
Doha is full throttle on its LNG growth targets as it seeks to retake its number one spot
State-owned QatarEnergy has awarded US oil services firm McDermott a major offshore engineering contract that will be key to the emirate’s LNG expansion plans. The deal covers $3-4bn worth of engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) work relating to topsides, pipelines and cables for the North Field East (NFE) development and an option for the award of similar units for North Field South (NFS), the second expansion phase on which FID looks ever more certain later in the year. The enthusiasm to maintain momentum on its liquefaction capacity drive comes as Qatar was last year overtaken by Australia as the world’s top exporter of LNG and is set to drop back to third place
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