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Qatar Energy, Oil, Gas and Business Update May 2015

Losing the 2022 World Cup may help Qatar’s economy
28 May 2015 | By Wil Crisp
Fitch Ratings says if Qatar is stripped of the tournament its robust economic growth will continue

Colin Foreman
Oil price drop stress tests GCC projects
26 May 2015 | By Colin Foreman
There are long term positives to the slowdown

Andrew Roscoe
Japanese gain ground in region’s utilities market
26 May 2015 | By Andrew Roscoe
Companies from Japan have won the first three major developer contracts of the year

Doha in Qatar
Construction is risky business in Qatar
19 May 2015 | By Colin Foreman
Aecom encounters “delivery challenges” as industry braces for surge in disputes

Qatar IMF data Q2 2015
Qatar real GDP to grow
14 May 2015 | By Wil Crisp
Qatar’s real GDP is expected to rise to $110.3bn in 2015

QP’s risky Al-Shaheen strategy
QP’s risky Al-Shaheen strategy
12 May 2015 | By Kevin Baxter
Re-tendering concession for technically challenging oil field is mystifying

Projects due for award in next 12 months
Projects market loses its momentum
12 May 2015 | By Mark Watts
While essential schemes are still likely to move forwards, the drop in oil prices means projects that are more speculative could be put on hold

Saudi Defence Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud (C) at a defence exhibition in February
MEED board report, May 2015
7 May 2015 | By Richard Thompson
Key events and trends in the region over the past month and their impact on the outlook for the Middle East and North Africa

Refining and petrochemicals developments in the region are bearing the brunt of lower oil prices
Downstream projects most under threat
4 May 2015 | By Mark Watts
Refining and petrochemicals developments in the region are bearing the brunt of lower oil prices

Qatar shifts its project spending plans
Qatar shifts its project spending plans
28 April 2015 | By Andrew Roscoe
Falling energy prices have forced Doha to focus on infrastructure programme

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim (left) is working more closely with Gulf leaders including Saudi King Salman
Welcomed back into the fold
28 April 2015 | By Wil Crisp
Qatar has made amends with Saudi Arabia, in a sign of a turnaround in GCC attitudes to Doha led by the kingdom’s newly appointed monarch

Renewable energy
Renewables market hotspots taking off
28 April 2015 | By Philippa Wilkinson
Excitement over Egypt, but Saudi Arabia’s plans remain unclear

Qatar must diversify projects pipeline
Qatar: Must diversify projects pipeline
27 April 2015
Qatar’s economy is booming right now, but this is only on the back of the Fifa 2022 World Cup and the country’s ample reserves of gas

Qatar imports and exports
Hamad Port prepares for first cargo
27 April 2015 | By Austyn Allison
The delivery of the project to provide Qatar with a new port has been pushed forward by a decade, but the authorities are still managing to make good progress

Qatar population
More work needed on labour reforms
27 April 2015 | By Austyn Allison
Doha has announced a series of reforms and draft laws aimed at improving the lives of migrant workers employed in the country, but human rights organisations want the government to take concrete steps

Qatar bank liquidity at risk from oil slump
Qatar bank liquidity at risk from oil slump
27 April 2015 | By Rebecca Spong
Qatari banks continue to post strong results, but continued low crude prices and upcoming investment programmes could affect their deposit levels

Middle East contracts March 2015
Middle East contracts awarded: March 2015
15 April 2015
Over $6bn of contracts awarded in March in the Middle East

Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne
MEED board report, April 2015
8 April 2015 | By Richard Thompson
Key events and trends in the region over the past month and their impact on the outlook for the Middle East and North Africa

Doha in Qatar
Optimism for Qatar amid uncertainty
7 April 2015 | By Wil Crisp
Steady growth forecast for Qatar’s economy

US oil production
The impact of US shale oil on the Middle East
6 April 2015 | By Kevin Baxter
Cheaper production could spell disaster for many of the region’s conventional oil fields

Qatar roads
Rail spearheads transport plans
1 April 2015
Qatar aims to revamp its transport links to counter congestion

Cover
Qatar Projects 2015
1 April 2015
World Cup projects gather pace

Gas field
Qatar’s oil dilemma
31 March 2015 | By Kevin Baxter
It’s LNG and not oil that is Doha’s core business and it should be concentrating its efforts there

Al-Saad Multi-purpose Hall
Qatar Building Project of the Year
24 March 2015
Al-Saad Multipurpose Hall

Energy Management System
Ramboll Sustainable Project of the Year – Qatar
24 March 2015
Energy Management System (Solar MicroGrid System)

Hamad airport
Hyder Consulting Transport Project of the Year – Qatar
24 March 2015
New Doha (Hamad) International airport Passenger Terminal Complex – CP18

Tunnel boring machine for metro
No more distractions for Qatar infrastructure
23 March 2015 | By Colin Foreman
The World Cup date is fixed so Doha has to concentrate on infrastructure

Islamic studies
Qatar Social Infrastructure Project of the Year
22 March 2015
Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS)

Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar
Qatar to 2022 and beyond
19 March 2015 | By Edmund O’Sullivan
Fifa confirms the Qatar World Cup Finals are to be held in November 2022 to avoid the Gulf’s heat and humidity

Real estate
Prices fluctuate in maturing real estate market
18 March 2015 | By Robert Jones
The region is seeing sharp differences in office and housing costs, depending on the maturity of the market

Qatar Oil, Gas and Energy Update March 2015

Rail spearheads transport plans
Qatar aims to revamp its transport links to counter congestion

Qatar’s oil dilemma
It’s LNG and not oil that is Doha’s core business and it should be concentrating its efforts there

When the offshore North Field, the world’s largest non-associated gas field, was discovered in 1972 it was met with acute disappointment in Qatar because they had been really hoping for oil.

In the early 1970s oil was king and gas was nothing more than a by-product. Qatar would not develop the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure for almost 40 years, which gives clear indication of how little respect was afforded to gas back then.

But we are not in the 1970s anymore and the global oil market is evolving in such a revolutionary way that could make the mature, low-yield oil fields of the Middle East completely obsolete by the end of the decade.

The vast majority of the sector’s research and development is now focused on driving innovation in unconventional hydrocarbons and this is what could sound the death knell for some of Qatar’s low-producing oil fields.

Investing in new surface facilities, drilling new wells and rehabilitating ageing infrastructure costs a fortune and with oil prices seemingly content to sit at $50-$60 a barrel it is making investment decisions easy.

There is no decent argument to be had for spending $3bn on an oil field rehabilitation that can only sustain production of 100,000 barrels a day for five years. If anything the probability of oil prices going down is higher than them rising at this point in time.

All it would take is a breakthrough in drilling and fracking technology to witness global oil shale production skyrocket. If this happens oil prices will depress even further and start to make the future of medium-yield oil fields look uncertain.

There have been no announcements regarding any of Qatar’s upstream oil projects and there could still be investment in maintaining current production levels for as long as possible before bowing to the inevitable and allowing them to slowly deplete.

Qatar Petroleum knows that in uncertain times you concentrate on your core strengths. The fact is that LNG fulfils that criteria for Doha and if there is to be any significant investments anywhere, it should be there.

Qatar to 2022 and beyond
Fifa confirms the Qatar World Cup Finals are to be held in November 2022 to avoid the Gulf’s heat and humidity

Gulf aviation hub to be largely unchallenged
Demands from US airlines have been raised in Washington

Doha metro takes shape
The network is planned to last beyond the World Cup

Middle East contracts awarded: February 2015
Over $8bn of contracts awarded in February in the Middle East