QatarEnergy Set to Further Expand LNG Output at North Field

The new Qatar Energy logo is pictured during a news conference in Doha, Qatar, October 11, 2021. Qatar News Agency/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
The new Qatar Energy logo is pictured during a news conference in Doha, Qatar, October 11, 2021. Qatar News Agency/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
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QatarEnergy Set to Further Expand LNG Output at North Field

The new Qatar Energy logo is pictured during a news conference in Doha, Qatar, October 11, 2021. Qatar News Agency/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
The new Qatar Energy logo is pictured during a news conference in Doha, Qatar, October 11, 2021. Qatar News Agency/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

QatarEnergy chief Saad al-Kaabi announced on Sunday a new expansion of its liquefied natural gas production that will add a further 16 million tons per annum (mtpa) to existing expansion plans, bringing total capacity to 142 mtpa.
With this added boost, the overall expansion of the North Field from 77 mtpa currently to 142 mtpa by 2030 represents an increase of 85% in production, Kaabi said at a press conference in Doha.
State-owned QatarEnergy has already signed a string of supply deals with European and Asian partners in its massive North Field expansion project, which was expected - prior to Sunday's announcement - to produce 126 million mtpa of LNG per annum by 2027, from the current 77 mtpa.
Exploration activities in the west of North Field prompted the company's decision to expand further.
In December, Kaabi told Reuters that QatarEnergy had been drilling wells to assess expansion opportunities beyond the North Field East and North Field South phases.
This latest expansion will require the construction of two LNG trains, in addition to six already underway for the earlier expansions dubbed North Field East and North Field South.



Trump’s Trade War Is ‘Wake-up Call’ for Europe, Lagarde Says 

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump’s Trade War Is ‘Wake-up Call’ for Europe, Lagarde Says 

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde looks on as she speaks to the media following the Governing Council's monthly monetary policy meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, March 6, 2025. (Reuters)

A full-scale global trade war would hurt the United States in particular and could re-energize Europe's push towards unity, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday.

The US has imposed a raft of tariffs on friends and foes alike and threatened even more measures, prompting retaliation from most and raising concern that global growth could take a major hit.

"If we were to go to a real trade war, where trade would be dampened significantly, that would have severe consequences," Lagarde told BBC's HARDTalk program. "It would have severe consequences for growth around the world and for prices around the world, but particularly in the United States."

However, these tensions could also have the positive side effect of giving European unity another push, Lagarde argued.

"You know what it's doing at the moment? Stirring European energy. It's a big wake-up call for Europe. Maybe this is a European moment, yet again," she said.

The European Commission and Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, have already announced increased spending on defense and infrastructure, ending years of reluctance to spend, Lagarde argued.

This "collective waking up" also appears to include the UK, which left the European Union, as it's taking part in Europe's security effort, Lagarde argued.

Many of the EU's large scale efforts to deepen unity have been stalled for the better part of the last decade and former ECB chief Mario Draghi delivered a scathing report on the European project last year.

Leaders, however, have taken few if any steps to implement Draghi's reform proposals, even as the bloc is barely growing now and Germany suffered two straight years to economic contraction.