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QatarEnergy achieves strategic oil and gas goals in 2025

12 January 2026

 

QatarEnergy made significant progress towards achieving its strategic oil and gas production expansion objectives in 2025, while also firming up plans for the next phase of its mammoth North Field liquefied natural gas (LNG) programme.

The state enterprise spent almost $20bn last year on projects ranging from gas production expansion and oil output capacity building to carbon capture and sequestration, making it the strongest year for capital expenditure in Qatar’s hydrocarbon sector since 2021.

QatarEnergy announced the North Field West project – the third expansion phase of its estimated $40bn North Field LNG programme – in February 2024. However, progress on the project was initially slow, with North Field West remaining in the early planning stages for much of the year.

Momentum picked up in the second half of the year, as QatarEnergy began the prequalification process and issued tenders for various work packages related to the North Field West LNG project. Notably, the company completed the prequalification exercise for dredging works.

More importantly, QatarEnergy awarded a contract in December for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of four offshore jackets and associated facilities at the giant North Field gas reserve in Qatari waters.

US-headquartered McDermott International won the contract, which is estimated to be worth about $200m. The new jackets will boost gas production from the North Field reservoirs, providing additional gas feedstock for the North Field West LNG project.

North Field LNG expansion scheme

The North Field West project will have an LNG production capacity of 16 million tonnes a year (t/y), delivered through two 8 million t/y LNG processing trains, based on the two earlier phases of QatarEnergy’s LNG expansion programme. The project will draw feedstock from the western zone of Qatar’s offshore North Field gas reserve and is expected to increase QatarEnergy’s total LNG production capacity to 142 million t/y upon commissioning in 2030.

Meanwhile, EPCI works on the first two phases of the North Field expansion programme — North Field East and North Field South — continue to advance. These projects will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77.5 million t/y to 126 million t/y by 2028.

QatarEnergy is understood to have spent nearly $30bn on the North Field East and North Field South LNG projects, which, once fully operational, will add 48 million t/y of supply to the global LNG market.

The North Field East project aims to boost QatarEnergy’s LNG output to 110 million t/y. The $13bn main EPC package – covering the EPCI of four LNG trains, each with a capacity of 8 million t/y – was awarded to a consortium of Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation and France’s Technip Energies in February 2021.

In May 2023, QatarEnergy awarded the $10bn main EPC contract for the North Field South project to a consortium of Technip Energies and Lebanon-based Consolidated Contractors Company. The contract covers the EPCI of two LNG trains, each with a capacity of 7.8 million t/y.

North Field Production Sustainability

QatarEnergy’s North Field LNG expansion programme requires large volumes of gas to be pumped from the offshore North Field to feed the three phases of the estimated $40bn-plus programme. The state enterprise aims to secure these incremental gas volumes through the North Field Production Sustainability (NFPS) project.

QatarEnergy has already invested billions of dollars in EPCI works across two phases of the NFPS project since 2021. The second phase primarily involves the construction of gas compression facilities to sustain and gradually increase gas production from the North Field over the long term.

In 2025 alone, QatarEnergy subsidiary QatarEnergy LNG spent approximately $8bn on awarding contracts for two key EPCI packages under the second phase of the NFPS programme.

In March, India’s Larsen & Toubro Energy Hydrocarbon (LTEH) won the main contract for the combined 4A and 4B package, the fourth package of the second NFPS phase, estimated to be worth between $4bn and $5bn. The scope of work includes the EPCI of two large gas compression systems – CP8S and CP4N – each weighing between 25,000 and 35,000 tonnes, as well as compression platforms, flare gas platforms and other associated structures.

LTEH later subcontracted the detailed engineering and design work for the combined 4A and 4B package to Technip Energies.

In December, a consortium comprising Italian contractor Saipem and state-owned China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) secured the EPCI contract for the COMP5 package. The contract is valued at $4bn, with Saipem’s share declared at $3.1bn.

Milan-headquartered Saipem said the contract will run for approximately five years. The scope of work includes the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of two compression complexes, each comprising a compression platform, living quarters platform, flare platform supporting the gas combustion system and related interconnecting bridges. Each complex will have a total weight of about 68,000 tonnes.

CO2 capture and sequestration

Last year, QatarEnergy also made a significant investment in the development of a large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) sequestration complex at Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC). Once commissioned, the facility will be capable of capturing 4.1 million t/y of CO₂ from QatarEnergy LNG’s production operations at RLIC.

South Korea’s Samsung C&T won the contract to build the Ras Laffan CO₂ sequestration facility in November, with the project estimated to be valued at between $2bn and $2.5bn.

Building oil output capacity

In addition to advancing its gas production and LNG ambitions, QatarEnergy committed substantial capital expenditure last year towards increasing oil output capacity from its offshore fields.

In August, QatarEnergy selected contractors for the EPC works on a project to maintain and increase production potential at the Bul Hanine offshore oil field. The EPC scope was divided into three main packages, with COOEC awarded the first two packages and Qatari contractor Doha Petroleum Construction Company (Dopet) selected for the third. Additionally, COOEC appointed US-based KBR to provide detailed engineering services for the first and second packages.

Separately, in September, QatarEnergy awarded the main EPC contract for a project to add a fifth natural gas liquids (NGL) train at its NGL complex in Mesaieed Industrial City. Indian contractor L&T Energy Hydrocarbon won the contract.

The project, estimated to be worth $2.5bn, aims to build a fifth NGL train (NGL-5) with the capacity to process up to 350 million cubic feet a day of rich associated gas from QatarEnergy’s offshore and onshore oil fields.

Looking ahead, QatarEnergy is expected to award EPC contracts this year for another major project to expand oil production capacity at the ageing Maydan Mahzam offshore oil field. The company floated the main tender for the estimated $4bn-$5bn project in 2025. Contractors submitted technical bids for two key EPC packages in September and are preparing to submit commercial bids by 1 March.

The project scope includes the installation of topsides, jackets, subsea cables and umbilicals, as well as brownfield modifications to existing facilities, to maintain the field’s oil production potential over the long term.

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Indrajit Sen

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