Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and Chief Executive Officer of QatarEnergy, H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi speaking at the Doha Forum, yesterday.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar is working on several areas in the energy industry, stated the Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and Chief Executive Officer of QatarEnergy, H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi at the Doha Forum yesterday.
During the newsmaker interview with CNBC’s Dan Murphy, he highlighted that the largest LNG supplier is currently producing 77 million tonnes of LNG per annum. He said, “We already announced our plans to go to 142 million tonnes per annum and if you look internationally, we are adding 60 to 80 million tonnes along with our partners.”
He remarked that attaining 160 million tonnes culminates in a 100 percent increase in LNG.
He noted that the second area Qatar focuses on is the petrochemicals. Minister Al Kaabi said “We have increased our petrochemical production by almost 130 percent. We are building the largest polythene plant in the MENA region here in Qatar. We are building with our partners like the Chevron Phillips in the US - the largest petrochemical Polythene plant in the world, in Texas. So this increases our production by about 130 percent from where we stand today.”
Emphasising the third core element, he said that Qatar is ranked the second-largest producer of fertilizers globally. “We are going to increase our production by double from 6 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes. We will be the largest fertilizer producer in the world. Our people don’t know that 50 percent of all the food around the world is fortified or enhanced by fertilizer and used as fossil fuel and maybe gas. So for us to reach 12 million tonnes would be helping and feeding about 160 million people around the world which is food security, he said.
Underscoring the need for a better environment, the Minister said that clean air and water are the vital fourth element for Qatar and beyond.
Minister Al Kaabi said “ Today, ten percent of the power that we enjoy comes from solar. Next year it will go to another plant that we are going to inaugurate next year one in Lusail and one in Ras Laffan. We will go to about 15-16 percent leveraging the capacity and we already announced that we are going to build a fourth plant.”
“So we will increase our solar capacity from today by 360 percent by 2030 making Qatar about 30 percent coming from global energy,” he said.
Qatar’s energy sector and its businesses have a solidified international presence by partnering with global brands to enhance their capability and reserves.
The Minister also said that Qatar stands in total support of the concept of the European Union’s (EU) Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), and of the desire to protect and uphold human rights, labor rights, and reducing environmental impact.
“This directive affects any company that deals in Europe and makes more than €450m generated in or from Europe. So, companies like QatarEnergy, Shell, or ExxonMobil, and even car companies like Toyota or GM, will have to say they will abide by the Paris Accords. So, the company will have to commit to Net Zero,” the Minister explained.
Minister Al Kaabi said, “For us as QatarEnergy, and with all the expansions we are undertaking, I can assure you we cannot meet Net Zero as a company.”
Speaking on relations with the administration of President-elect Trump, he accentuated that US-Qatari friendship and energy relations transcend administrations.
He said, “The most important thing is that we have an excellent partnership between companies and between people and that this is sustainable because it is good for business with mutual respect and mutual gain on both sides.”
“It’s a win-win relationship. We have oil and gas projects that are multi-decade projects and can survive governments and administrations,” Minister Al Kaabi added.
