Qatar to shift LNG market focus

摘要

The global impact of the US shale gas boom was in further evidence in early April as Qatar Petroleum, along with its memorandum of understanding (MoU) partner Centrica, made its first move into the North American E&P market in a $1bn acquisition of Canadian assets from Suncor Energy (see p4). 'North America had been earmarked by Qatar as a guaranteed market to sell its copious LNG export capacity in, but the US shale boom has turned this idea on its head, as the middle-eastern national oil company (NOC) becomes the latest foreign power to move into the North American E&P arena,' says Evaluate Energy's Mark Young. 'The assets being acquired are well spread over the country in three provinces, and the British Columbia set of the assets will no doubt form a potential export opportunity as Kitimat becomes Canada's LNG exporting centre in the coming years.'