Qatar cuts LNG prices to enter the Asian spot market

China Petroleum & Chemical News.

According to an anonymous source quoted by Bloomberg, Qatar has shifted its priority from price to market share, thereby driving down prices and promoting a capacity expansion worth US$29 billion, with the goal of increasing LNG exports by 50%.

According to the report, through this strategy, Qatar will threaten the commercial viability of new LNG capacity projects in other parts of the world.

For several years, Australia has been pressing Qatar, temporarily surpassing Qatar, becoming the world's largest exporter of LNG.

In fact, the reason for this is the maintenance of a large production facility in Qatar, but the Gulf country has reason to feel threatened by emerging competitors.

Bloomberg quoted in the report Jonathan Stern, a senior researcher at the Oxford Energy Institute, as saying: "No one can compete with Qatar's costs.

However, some LNG supplies in other places are still competitive even at lower prices, such as Russia's Yamal LNG from Novatek and the production of U.

Wang Lei excerpted from today's oil prices

The original text is as follows:

Qatar Cuts LNG Prices And Expands Into Asian Spot Market

Qatar is cutting prices for its gas and expanding into the Asian spot market as it seeks to maintain its number-one position in exports of liquefied natural gas.

According to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg, the country has shifted its priority from prices to market share, hence the price undercutting and the push ahead with a production capacity expansion worth $29 billion.

With this strategy, Qatar threatens the commercial viability of new LNG production capacity projects in the rest of the world, according to the report.

Australia has been breathing down Qatar's neck for a couple of years now, at one point temporarily overtaking it as the world's largest LNG exporter.

In truth, the reason for this was maintenance at a big production facility in Qatar, but the Gulf nation has reason to feel threatened by emerging competitors.

“Nobody can compete with Qatari costs,” according to Jonathan Stern, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, as quoted by Bloomberg in its report.

Yet some LNG supply elsewhere remains competitive even at lower prices, such as Russian Novatek's Yamal LNG and US Cheniere Energy's output.