Wood Mackenzie: Next wave of Qatari LNG may come from North America

Investments in new liquefaction capacity from the US may provide Qatar with greater commercial and political value than investments in new Qatari LNG capacity, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie.

Wood Mackenzie’s report titled "What next fror Qatar and LNG?" notes that Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) owns the Golden Pass regasification terminal in the US Gulf Coast. QPI and its partner ExxonMobil are considering the re-development of Golden Pass as a liquefaction facility. As a result LNG from Golden Pass could be base loaded into the UK, backfilling Qatari LNG that is being re-directed east, to Asian markets.

“A Golden Pass liquefaction project could offer advantages over some other proposed US LNG projects, including lower development costs and less financing challenges” said Noel Tomnay, Head of Global Gas Research." In addition the combination of QPI’s underutilized regasification capacity in the UK and Qatar’s excess LNG shipping capacity could provide a sunk-cost economic advantage of some US$1-1.50/mmbtu (British Thermal Units) over other proposed US LNG export projects for European supply. MORE