LNG

QatarEnergy, the world’s leading liquefied natural gas company, reported a 58 percent jump in annual net profits after demand for cargoes soared along with prices as European countries tried to replace halted Russian pipeline gas supplies with LNG.

QatarEnergy’s net profits came to 154.6 billion Qatari riyals ($42.2Bln) in 2022 compared with 97.9Bln riyals ($26.7Bln) in 2021.

The Doha-based company reported a surge in revenues to almost 189Bln riyals ($51.56Bln) in the 12 months to the end of December, which was 57 percent higher than the 120.3Bln riyals logged in 2021.

QatarEnergy’s deliveries are a mixture of long-term contracts and the sale of spot cargoes with prices for such shipments soaring five-fold to $50 per million British thermal units in mid-2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine compared with the mid-2021 prices of under $10 per MMBtu.

Matching majors

By way of comparison QatarEnergy’s earnings are on a par with the largest global oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil Corp. and Shell plc who reported record profits last year of $56Bln and $40Bln respectively.

QatarEnergy’s performance was only bettered by the Middle East regional giant, Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil-producer based in Dhahran in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Aramco’s annual net income in 2022 came to $161.1Bln on stronger crude oil prices and higher volumes sold and this was almost four times higher than QatarEnergy’s profit and those of the leading global energy majors.

Aramco’s net income was 46.5 percent higher than in 2021 when $110.0Bln was posted and was well above the $49.1Bln reported in 2020.

While Saudi Aramco profits outpaced the LNG producer’s, QatarEnergy is set to increase annual income in the years ahead from an expansion programme to boost production.

Qatar is currently developing two LNG expansion project, the North Field South (NFS) joint venture and the NFE venture in partnerships with international energy majors and when completed will take Qatar's output from 77 million tonnes per annum to 126 MTPA.

The two Qatari LNG expansions involve feed-gas developments in the prolific North Field in the Arabian Gulf and the construction of an additional six mega-Trains each with 8 MTPA of output.

The NFS venture will have two mega-Trains while the NFE project will have four of the mega-Trains processing the Gulf gas for export.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, has signed a cargo supply deal with QatarEnergy to receive 4 million tonnes per annum of cargoes from the Ras Laffan plant in the Arabian Gulf from 2026.

May 26 (LNGJ) - The UK will receive its first June cargo next week from Qatar. The 258,050 cubic metres capacity Q-Max vessel “Al Samriya” is scheduled to discharge a shipment on June 2 at the South Hook terminal in Milford Haven, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on May 16 from Qatar’s export terminal at Ras Laffan in the Arabian Gulf.

Qatar Petroleum has ordered four new liquefied natural gas carriers from the Chinese Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group of Shanghai as it begins to put in place the shipping requirements for massive expansion plans.