QatarEnergy is the state-owned energy company of Qatar, based in Doha, and is responsible for the country's oil and gas resources along the whole chain from exploration to export. Its president and chief executive is H.E. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, who is also Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs. Revenue from oil and natural gas accounts for roughly 60 per cent of Qatar's gross domestic product, and the company reported revenue of US$52 billion, net income of US$42.4 billion and total assets of US$162 billion for 2022.
From concession to national company
The first onshore concession in Qatar was awarded on 17 May 1935 to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which transferred it in October 1936 to Petroleum Development (Qatar) Ltd, later renamed Qatar Petroleum Company. Dukhan No. 1 was spudded in October 1938 and struck oil in January 1940, but the Second World War delayed development and the first crude was exported in December 1949 through a 73-mile pipeline to Umm Said. Offshore, Shell's Qatar company took a concession dated 29 November 1952, and the Idd Al-Shargi, Maydan Mahzam and Bul Hanine fields were discovered in 1960, 1963 and 1970 respectively.
The state took a 25 per cent interest in the onshore and offshore concessions in 1973 and full ownership of the onshore concessions in September 1976 and of the offshore operations in February 1977. The national oil company itself dates from 1974 and, after decades as Qatar Petroleum, now trades as QatarEnergy.
The North Field, LNG capacity and the carrier fleet
The North Field, discovered in 1971, is the world's largest natural gas field, covering roughly 6,000 square kilometres with more than 900 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Commercial development began in 1991, and Ras Laffan Industrial City, commissioned in 1996 about 80 kilometres north of Doha, became the centre of liquefaction and gas processing. The site hosts the QatarEnergy LNG trains, the Pearl and Oryx gas-to-liquids plants, the Dolphin gas processing plant, the Laffan Refinery and integrated power and water plants, and its port is the largest artificial harbour in the world.
In February 2021 the company signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Chiyoda and Technip for the North Field East expansion, a project valued at about US$28.7 billion. Shell, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil each took 6.25 per cent of that project and Eni and ConocoPhillips 3.125 per cent each. The first phase raises export capacity from 77 million tonnes a year towards 110 million tonnes, adding 32.6 million tonnes of LNG, 1.5 million tonnes of ethane, 4 million tonnes of LPG, 250,000 barrels a day of condensate and 5,000 tonnes a day of helium. The North Field South phase, in which Shell and TotalEnergies hold 9.375 per cent each and ConocoPhillips 6.25 per cent, is designed to lift capacity to about 126 million tonnes a year from 2028.
Long-term supply agreements
- Sinopec signed a 27-year sales agreement in November 2022 and took a 5 per cent stake in an 8 million tonne train in April 2023.
- CNPC agreed a 27-year deal for 4 million tonnes a year in June 2023.
- Eni contracted 1 million tonnes a year for 27 years from October 2023, for delivery to the Piombino regasification terminal in Italy.
- Petronet LNG of India signed a 20-year agreement in February 2024 covering supplies beyond 2028, and CPC Corporation of Taiwan a 27-year deal for 4 million tonnes a year in June 2024.
- Condensate is sold to ENOC of the United Arab Emirates under a 10-year contract for 120 million barrels signed in July 2023, and to Mitsui under a 10-year deal for 11 million barrels a year from April 2024.
- Koch Fertilizer agreed to buy about 740,000 tonnes of urea a year for 15 years from July 2024.
To move the volumes, QatarEnergy ordered 17 LNG carriers at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in September 2023 in a deal worth US$3.9 billion, selected Nakilat in February 2024 to own and operate up to 25 ships in a second batch, and placed a contract for 18 large carriers with China State Shipbuilding Corporation in April 2024. A charter with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines signed in November 2022 covers three further carriers.
Fields, plants and industrial holdings
Onshore, QatarEnergy operates the Dukhan field about 80 kilometres west of Doha, which yields crude oil, associated and non-associated gas and condensate. Offshore it produces from Idd El-Sharqi North and South Domes, Maydan Mahzam and Bul Hanine, which came on stream in 1962, 1965 and 1972, and from the Al-Murjan field through the Al-Rayyan platform. Three production stations, PS-1, PS-2 and PS-3, deliver more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day together with associated gas, and oil and condensate are piped to Halul Island, which has ten storage tanks holding over four million barrels and its own export and support facilities.
Petrochemical and industrial interests sit in joint ventures: QAPCO, held 80 per cent by Industries Qatar and 20 per cent by TotalEnergies, runs 840,000 tonnes a year of ethylene capacity and 780,000 tonnes of low-density polyethylene; QAFCO, 75 per cent Industries Qatar and 25 per cent Yara, can produce 2 million tonnes of ammonia and 2.8 million tonnes of urea a year; Q-Chem with Chevron Phillips has made polyethylene and 1-hexene at Mesaieed since 2002; and North Oil Company, 70 per cent QatarEnergy and 30 per cent TotalEnergies, operates the Al Shaheen field.
International exploration portfolio
Its international footprint expanded during 2026: in September it signed an agreement with Angola's ANPG for offshore blocks alongside Shell and Sonangol; in May it acquired interests in the Uruguayan blocks OFF-2, OFF-4 and OFF-7 from BG International, taking stakes of between 18 and 30 per cent; in June it declared a commercial discovery at the Glaucus and Pegasus fields in Block 10 offshore Cyprus and reported an oil discovery at the Merlin-1X well in Namibia; and in January 2026 it agreed with Lebanon's energy ministry to run seismic surveys on Block 8, where it holds a 30 per cent interest alongside TotalEnergies and Eni. Earlier additions include blocks offshore Canada acquired from ExxonMobil in 2023, a 20 per cent interest in Brazil's Agua Marinha production sharing contract, a 20 per cent stake in Chevron-operated Block 5 offshore Suriname in 2024 and the Cairo and Masry concessions offshore Egypt agreed with ExxonMobil and Egyptian state bodies the same year.
Wartime disruption in 2026
On 2 March 2026, the third day of the Iran war, Qatar's defence ministry reported that Ras Laffan and the Mesaieed industrial area had been struck by Iranian drones. QatarEnergy halted production of natural gas and associated products and declared force majeure on LNG shipments, sending world gas prices higher; satellite analysis reported on 6 March found the main liquefaction equipment apparently undamaged. A further missile attack on 18 March hit the site, damaging two of its 14 production units and cutting LNG production capacity by about 17 per cent; Qatari officials said repairs could take three to five years and the company expected to lose revenues of roughly US$20 billion a year. On 21 June an explosion at the Barzan local gas supply facility, which the company operates, killed at least 13 workers and injured 66 while operations halted in March were being restarted; the interior ministry called it a technical accident and the company said exports would not be affected, with an investigation under way.
Refining, marketing and trading sit alongside supply management and a vendor tender process, and the contact page directs all job applications to a separate careers portal.