DOHA — Qatar’s energy minister on Sunday announced a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion project to further raise the nation’s production capacity to 142 million tonnes per annum by 2030, reported Xinhua.

The expansion, named “North Field West” project, represents an increase of almost 85 percent from current production levels, Minister Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi (picture), also the president and CEO of QatarEnergy announced during a press conference held at the company’s headquarters in Doha.

Al Kaabi also announced the presence of huge additional gas quantities in the North Field estimated at 240 trillion cubic feet, which raises Qatar’s gas reserves from 1,760 to more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet.

“These are very important results of great dimensions that will take Qatar’s gas industry to new horizons,” he said.

Qatar is one of the world’s leading LNG exporters and aims to provide 40 per cent of all new LNG supplies by 2029. — BERNAMA-XINHUA / pic TMR FILE