Qatar Petroleum, the Gulf country’s state-run energy company, plans to finance $10 billion to $13 billion worth of projects in 2014, the head of project finance said.
The projects may include two petrochemical plants and an aromatics complex, Meshaal Al-Mahmoud told reporters at a conference in the Qatari capital Doha.
“As part of the finance plan, we would approach the bank market, capital market, Islamic” and export credit agencies, he said. “These figures will be more scrutinized as we go forward. We are still at an early stage today.”
Qatar Petroleum plans to spend as much as $25 billion over the next five years on projects, Al-Mahmoud said. These include a planned $6.4 billion petrochemical plant done in partnership with Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and a $5.5 billion plant in partnership with Qatar Petrochemical Co, a unit of Industries Qatar (IQCD) QSC.
The aromatics plant would be built in the industrial city of Ras Laffan and is in the early stages of being planned, he said. A partner hasn’t been chosen.
No “major” projects will need financing this year or next year, Al-Mahmoud said.
Qatar, the world’s biggest liquefied natural-gas producer, is diversifying away from exports of the chilled fuel into using gas for industrial enterprises and domestic power generation. Last year, Qatar Petroleum completed financing arrangements for the Barzan domestic natural-gas project with a $7.2 billion syndicated loan.
Bloomberg
20 September
