The Middle East Energy

Undertaking a large-scale expansion of its chemicals industry, Qatar is aiming to increase the value of hydrocarbons-related exports. Production of chemicals and petrochemicals will more than double by 2020, reaching 23m tonnes per year (tpy), up from 9.3m tonnes at present, the nation’s minister of energy and industry, Mohamed bin Saleh Al Sada, announced in mid-January.

The announcement of a major downstream project has been the highlight of a busy period for Qatar’s hydrocarbons sector. An agreement, signed on December 4 between Saleh Al Sada, the minister of energy and industry, and Shell’s CEO, Peter Voser, lays out the commercial principles and scope of a proposed petrochemicals complex in Ras Laffan Industrial City in northeast Qatar.

The Omani government is moving forward with plans to raise prices for natural gas in an effort to recalibrate the supply-and-demand equation, with local demand for the feedstock rising rapidly on the back of industrial expansion and domestic supplies limited.

At the high-profile Black Sea Energy and Economy Forum, Turkey’s top leadership expressed strong rhetorical support for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, while reminding Europe that the country plays the key role in Nabucco’s success and implying that more serious consideration needs to be given to its EU membership bid.

The face of Abu Dhabi’s oil industry could be set for a major makeover, with long established international operators facing increased competition for existing concessions and new contracts due to be agreed in coming years. In particular, energy-hungry Asian states are queuing up to gain access to the emirate’s oil fields.

Dubai is to change the way it powers itself, having announced a long-term plan to diversify the emirate’s energy sector away from dependence on imported gas and towards a broad-based mix of fuels for its power stations. However, that energy security could come at a cost.