Qatar Petroleum is reportedly planning to invest $20bn in US oil and gas fields over five years, as parts of its plan to expand operations in the country.
A portion of the investment will be toward arranging gas supplies for the Golden Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Sabine Pass, Texas, which the company is developing in partnership with Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips.
According to Qatar Petroleum CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar is expected to announce a deal in the US by the end of the year, while the country is also planning to make an additional investment of $5bn in downstream assets such as chemicals projects.
Qatar Petroleum aims to increase production from 4.8 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (MMboed) to 6.5MMboed within eight years.
The state-owned company intends to develop both shale and conventional resources in the US.
Qatar Petroleum and its partners are currently assessing bids from third-party contractors for the Golden Pass project.
A final decision whether to proceed, which is subject to securing gas to feed the project, is expected to be made by the first quarter of next year.
Al-Kaabi added: “We’re in the final stages to really make a decision very soon. We are very eager to do the project. We think this is a very important project for us, and we believe we’re aligned with Exxon Mobil on that.”
The LNG terminal has a regasification capacity of two billion cubic feet a day.
