Regional LNG: Korea in LNG supply talks with RasGas
Monday, April 24 2006 - 12:15 AM WIB
Currently Qatar is supplying Korea with approximately 5 million tonnes of LNG with additional short-term contract of 4 million tonnes for a period of four years, the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry, Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, told reporters Sunday.
He was speaking at a news conference after signing of a bilateral energy cooperation protocol with Korean Vice Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Lee Won Gul, on the sidelines of the 10th International Energy Forum.
The protocol sets the general framework for mutual energy cooperation and opens up the door for eventual joint-ventures between the two countries, Al Attiyah said.
He added that he was confident a successful conclusion to the ongoing negotiations for extra cargoes from RasGas, Korea's main gas supplier, would be reached.
Al Attiyah said the additional supplies would be provided by the existing trains and no new train would be required.
The Korean Vice Minister told reporters that next year Korea would require up 2.5 million tonnes of gas and a total of 5 million tonnes would be needed until 2012. He said Korea imports some 23 million tonnes of gas of which about 27 per cent is procured from Qatar, Korea's largest supplier of LNG.
Later asked about Qatar's oil industry, Al Attiyah said Qatar is investing some $5bn to boost oil production to 1.1 million barrels per day by 2009, adding more than 300,000 barrels a day to its current output of 85,000 barrels per day.
He also stated that record high oil prices of more than $75 a barrel resulted more from speculation and geopolitics than any objective shortage of supplies.
Asked whether Opec cartel's 11 members should raise the ceiling to solve the problem, he said: "This is an easiest solution, but it would not solve the problem which is a result of geopolitics".(*)