QatarEnergy () is the state-owned national petroleum and natural gas company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas related activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The President and CEO is Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, who is also the minister of state for energy affairs.
The company's operations are directly linked with state planning agencies, regulatory authorities, and policy making bodies. Together, revenues from oil and natural gas amount to 60% of the country's GDP. it was the third largest oil and gas company in the world by oil and gas reserves. In 2022, the company had total revenues of US$52 billion, a net income of US$42.4bn, and total assets of US$162 billion. In 2021, QatarEnergy was the fifth largest gas company in the world.
History Establishment
+ Wells completed Year Oil Dry Feet 1940 1 1941 1 1942 0 1 1947-1949 9 1948 3 0 16,200 1949 ? 1950 5 0 41,647 1951 5 0 44,173 1952 9 1953 6 2 50,835 1954 4 0 30,017 1955 6 3 54,720 1956 1 4 39,868 1957 5 0 36,518 1958 3 0 18,070 1959 1 13,261 1960 2 2 30,344
After World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Qatar fell within the British sphere of influence and the first onshore oil concession in the country was awarded on 17 May 1935 to British Petroleum's predecessor, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). Because of its obligations under the Red Line Agreement, AIOC on 3 October 1936 transferred the concession to an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Co., Petroleum Development (Qatar) Ltd. which would operate the concession. In October 1938, Dukhan No. 1 was spudded and in January 1940 struck oil flowing at 5,000bpd at a depth of 5,685ft. Three wells were drilled, 1 dry (struck water in May 1942) and 2 producers (ca. 5,000bpd each; #2 completed March 1941). However, World War II delayed development, the wells were plugged out of fear of them falling into the hands of Axis forces. Drilling resumed at the end of 1947 (at year's end Dukhan No. 4 was at 5,000 ft; the 2 wells plugged during the war were reopened in 1948) and the first crude was exported in December 1949 with the completion of a 73-mile 14-inch pipeline (69.7 mile 100,000bpd pipeline, consisting of 17.9 miles -inch and 51.8 miles of -inch pipe; the pipe manufactured in France, the pipeline designed by H. S. Austin who had been in charge of the Kirkuk-Haifa oil pipeline). The line led from the field on the west coast across the peninsula to the loading dock on the east coast at Umm Said, where two twin 16-inch 4,200 ft sea loading lines reached into deep water. The French tanker President Meny departed with the first load of oil on 31 December 1949. At the time there were at Umm Said 5 93,000bbl tanks, 5 130,000bbl tanks and 5 tanks of 148,000bbl each (1,855,000bbl total).
The first offshore concessions were granted in 1949 to the International Marine Oil Company (IMOC), which was a subsidiary of Superior Oil and the London-registered Central Mining & Investment Co. Superior was previously active in offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico and in Venezuela. It was the third relatively small independent American company to get involved in the Persian Gulf after the American Independent Oil Co and Pacific Western Oil Co, which were active in the neutral zone. In early 1950 a controversy was settled between IPC and Superior+Central Mining in which IPC's claim to the seabed to which they felt entitled under their original concession was in part granted with IPC gaining the rights to everything within a 3 mile belt around the peninsula while Superior's concession covered everything beyond 3 miles to a distance of 12 miles. IMOC did exploratory work in 1950 and 1951 with discouraging results and turned back the concession in 1951. In 1952, after IMOC had withdrawn, the Shell Co.-Qatar (SCQ) acquired exploration rights to most offshore territory with a concession dated 29 November 1952. In 1960 and 1963, the Idd Al-Shargi and Maydan Mahzam fields were discovered, respectively. Bul Hanine, the largest offshore field, was discovered in 1970 and began producing in 1972.
Shell employed the first offshore drilling platform (1,200 tons) in the Eastern Hemisphere in the waters to the east of Qatar. The first well, Matbach No. 1 was spudded at a depth of 32 ft of water in February 1955 and was abandoned at 6,706 ft in August 1955. The second test, Idd el Shargi No. 1 was abandoned in December 1956 at 11,883 ft. As the platform was being moved to Doha for modifications it got wrecked on 27 December – 30 December 1956, with several lives lost. A total of $21 million was invested in this endeavor at that point. The company built a new 209 ft-by-105 ft 5,930-ton platform, the Seashell, capable of drilling to 17.000 ft, in the Netherlands for $5 million. After commissioning in Doha Bay in December 1959, Shell struck oil with the new platform with Idd el Shargi No. 2 in April 1960 at about 8,000 ft, then drilled Hadet Shibeeb No. 1 (abandoned as a dry hole in September 1960) and then struck oil with Idd el Shargi No. 3, after which the Seashell was moved in March 1961 to the Idd el Shargi No. 4 location.
+ Qatar production by field, by year (x 1,000 barrels) Year Dukhan Shargi Mahzam Hanine Bundug 1949 750 1950 12,342 1951 18,030 1952 25,342 1953 31,046 1954 36,479 1955 41,958 1956 45,318 1957 50,835 1958 63,362 1959 61,401 1960 63,088 1961 64,386 1962 67,897 1963 70,100 1964 68,912 8,859 1965 72,312 11,813 1,094 1966 69,781 12,284 23,755 1967 70,990 14,405 32,979 1968 70,586 14,578 39,054 1969 73,309 13,963 42,374 1970 69,519 16,376 46,485 1971 81,052 14,677 61,058 1972 88,818 15,402 55,302 17,034 1973 91,507 13,868 50,135 52,713 1974 81,489 8,480 47,395 51,742 1975 65,445 5,013 39,150 50,174 118 1976 85,567 5,060 33,078 50,226 7,469 1977 70,100 3,000 33,078 49,172 6,970 1978 84,047 3,505 29,108 53,037 4,256 1979 84,169 3,650 36,031 60,225 1,286 1980 81,900 6,994 29,998 58,862 68
Worker strikes Early strikes focused on wages and conditions, and the emir encouraged strikes when negotiating new contracts to pressure concessions from the oil company.
In August 1952, a coalition of workers presented their demands to Ahmad Al Thani, the son of emir Ali Al Thani. Their demands centered on improved working conditions, less foreigners in high-ranking positions, and increased wages. Ahmad rejected these demands, causing the workers to present their grievances to the British. But while considering the ongoing conditions in country's labour sector, the International Labour Organization (ILO) issued new reports in November 2022, detailing the results of the Technical Cooperation Programme between the Government of Qatar and the ILO since it was launched in April 2018. The annual and four-year progress reports cover the substantial efforts that have been made in the areas of labour migration governance, the enforcement of the labour law and access to justice, and strengthening the voice of workers and social dialogue. These changes have improved the working and living conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers, though additional efforts are needed to ensure that all workers can benefit.
Nationalization of oil sector In 1973, the state seized a 25 percent stake in onshore concessions of QPC and offshore concessions of SCQ. As part of the agreement, the government stake would increase by 5 percent every year until it reached 51 percent in 1981. However, in early 1974, the initial agreement was repealed after QPC agreed to a new agreement which would allow the state to increase its share in both companies to 60 percent.
In December 1974, the government officially announced its intent to acquire SCQ's and QPC's remaining shares. A government decree passed in 1975 declared government ownership of the remaining shares. Negotiations throughout the following years resulted in the government assuming full ownership of QPC's onshore concessions in September 1976 and the SCQ's offshore activities in February 1977, thus fully nationalizing the oil sector.
In 1991, Qatar Petroleum initiated an upgrade program for oil production facilities. The program included bringing the Diyab structure (Dukhan) online and enhanced oil recovery, particularly at the Dukhan field. QP expects to boost capacity at Dukhan from in 2006 to in 2008. QP is carrying out similar work at several smaller fields, including the offshore Bul Hanine and Maydam Mahzam. Prospects for new discoveries are limited. QP carried out much exploration activity during the early 1980s but exploration declined as the oil glut of the mid-1980s gathered pace. Since then, QP has encouraged foreign operators to apply for exploration licenses. Although the number of wells drilled grew significantly towards the end of the 1980s, there was little success. Most new exploration and production (E&P) is done offshore by international oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Total. While substantial E&P is underway, there have not been any major oil discoveries in Qatar during the last decade. Most anticipated new oil production will come from Maersk Oil (Denmark), which operates the Al Shaheen field. Maersk reached an agreement with Qatar Petroleum in December 2005, under which the company intends to drill more than 160 production and water injection wells and establish three offshore platforms. The total oil production from Al Shaheen is planned to be gradually increased from at the beginning of 2006 to by the end of 2009. When completed, Qatar would have more than in crude production capacity.
In August 2019, French multinational integrated oil and gas company Total confirmed signing deals over transferring some of its assets in Kenya, Guyana and Namibia to Qatar Petroleum. With the deals, QP will hold a 30% interest in Block 2913B and 28.33% in Block 2912 of Namibia. QP will also have 40% of the company holding Total's existing 25% interests in the Orinduik and Kanuku blocks of Guyana and 25% interest in Blocks L11A, L11B and L12 of Kenya.
On 4 March 2026, the company announced force majeure, due to the ongoing 2026 Iran war. The attacks on its Ras Laffan industrial city, caused it to halt production of LNG and associated products.
Pipeline operations QatarEnergy operates Qatar's oil pipeline network, which transports supplies from oil fields to the country's lone refinery and export terminals. It operates an expansive offshore pipeline network that brings crude oil from offshore oil fields to Halul Island, where oil can be processed for export. Onshore, most oil is sent to Umm Said for refining or export. Qatar has three primary export terminals: Umm Said, Halul Island, and Ras Laffan. Qatar typically exports around of crude and about of refined petroleum products. Most exports go to Asia, with Japan as the single largest receiver (about of crude in 2006).
Refining operations Refining is carried out by two refineries - QatarEnergy Refinery in Umm Said and Laffan Refinery in Ras Laffan. Besides Qatar Petroleum has two joint ventures with South African Sasol (Oryx GTL) and British Shell plc (Pearl GTL) which are producing synthetic petroleum products (GTL-naphtha, GTL-diesel) from natural gas using Gas-to-Liquids technology.
Qatar's first refinery was built in Umm Said in 1953. The first revamp of the Refinery was completed in 1974. By the early 1980s, growth in local consumption was such that Qatar began importing refined products. In 1983, a refinery came online at Umm Said. Currently, Umm Said Refinery has a refining capacity of .
Laffan Refinery (RL1) came on-stream in September 2009. The Refinery has a processing capacity of per stream day and utilizes the field condensate produced at South Pars / North Dome Gas-Condensate field. After the revamp of the refinery is completed (RL2) it will have the processing capacity of .
North Field LNG project