据离岸工程8月7日报道，作为世界上最大的液化天然气出口国，卡塔尔正在将其出口能力提高43%，并开发其北方油田扩建项目，从2024年起每年向市场增加约3200万吨液化天然气。

尽管卡塔尔计划增加液化能力，但预计其在全球液化天然气产能中所占比例将从2018年的约20%降至2024年的14%，因为其他位于美国、俄罗斯、加拿大和莫桑比克的主要液化天然气项目计划在未来5年内投产。

澳大利亚和俄罗斯等国家在过去五年中的产能分别增加了约5900万吨和1700万吨。 由于页岩气的革命，美国也已经转变为世界主要的液化天然气出口国之一，通过计划和宣布的项目提高其液化能力。

日本，中国，韩国，印度等亚洲国家对液化天然气的需求大幅增加，这些国家共占当前世界液化天然气进口量的近70％。

到目前为止，供应市场已经成功地满足了全球对液化天然气的需求。然而，预计需求将以更快的速度增长，俄罗斯和卡塔尔等主要液化天然气出口国以及美国和加拿大等新加入的国家正在考虑扩大液化能力，以满足全球需求。

卡塔尔得益于其生产常规天然气所需的较低的上游成本，以及其理想的地理位置和在全球液化天然气市场上维护长期销售合同的良好声誉。

与世界各地的其他类似项目相比，卡塔尔新液化天然气项目的经济估计仍然有利，特别是如果给予与早先合资开发液化天然气相同的税收优惠。

在过去十年中，卡塔尔的液化天然气出口几乎达到了其全部产能(即利用能力的近94%)。这可以很好地反映卡塔尔在液化天然气客户中的稳固地位。

虽然预计世界液化天然气生产商之间的竞争将会加剧，但卡塔尔有利的地理位置，生产规模和低成本基础使得北田膨胀液化天然气可以在全球范围内签订合同并进行销售，从而确保了产量的确定性。

郝芬 译自 离岸工程

原文如下：

Qatar North Field Expansion to increase LNG export capacity by 43%

As the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, Qatar is increasing its export capacity by 43% and developing its North Field Expansion project, adding about 32 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied gas to the market from 2024.

Despite the planned increase in its liquefaction capacity, Qatar is expected to have its proportion in the world’s gas liquefaction capacity reduced from about 20% in 2018 to 14% in 2024 as other major LNG projects, mainly in the US, Russia, Canada and Mozambique, are planned to come online within the next five years.

Countries such as Australia and Russia have already added about 59 mtpa and 17 mtpa respectively to their capacity over the last five years. The US, owing to its shale gas revolution, has also transformed into one of the world’s major LNG exporters, increasing its liquefaction capacity through planned and announced projects.

Demand for LNG has been significantly rising in Asian countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, India and Taiwan, which together are responsible for nearly 70% of the current world’s LNG imports.

The supply market has been successful in meeting the global demand for LNG so far. However, demand is expected to increase at a much faster rate and major LNG exporters such as Russia and Qatar and newly joined countries such as the US and Canada are considering expansion of their liquefaction capacity to meet the global demand.

Qatar benefits from having low upstream costs needed to produce its conventional natural gas, as well as from its desired geographical position and strong reputation in the global LNG market upholding long-term selling contracts.

Compared to other similar projects around the world, estimated economics of the new Qatari LNG project is still favorable, particularly if given the same tax incentives as were applied to earlier joint ventures for LNG development.

Qatar has been able to export its LNG nearly to its full capacity (i.e. almost 94% of capacity utilised) over the last decade. This can be a good indicator of Qatar’s well-secured and established position among the LNG customers.

Although competition is expected to rise amongst the world’s LNG producers, Qatar‘s favorable geographical location, scale of production and low cost base allows for North Field Expansion LNG to have been contracted and sold globally, thus providing certainty of volume offtake.