The production of energy, and non-oil operations and services remain Qatar’s main developmental activities. These represent the strong indicators of our national economy, which makes us less vulnerable to a decline in world oil prices, the fluctuation of capital markets, and the repercussions of giant entities’ successive financial crises in European and American economies.
Qatar has an enormous stock of energy, especially natural gas, which is one of the richest sources of energy consumed in the world, and our state occupies the forefront of producing countries in this resource.
Natural gas is considered tomorrow’s energy and is the driving force in our daily lives. With its growing demand, the continuous increase in population, and developmental expansion will eventually boost its demand by 40pc, and the use of oil and gas combined will comprise to 60pc.
Some international reports have talked about global economic concerns due to the decline in oil prices, which eventually leads to fluctuating capital markets. Despite this, our country’s indicators showing a booming economy in the coming years.
The State of Qatar has entered the gas market through the strategic position that it drafted for itself, advanced technology, the confidence gained from accumulated experience, and its distinguished flexibility in this market.
Qatar’s economy is focused on operational excellence, taking advantage of its great achievements in prior years, which allowed it to take the lead. It also has a wealth of renewable energy sources, which have not been exploited.
The accelerated growth in public spending on development projects in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), specifically Qatar, burdens economists to create a structured track for the economy. This is mainly due to their limited ability of quickly defining goals that produce results, which line with changes.
The International Monetary Fund has noted that oil and gas exports provided huge returns and surpluses for the GCC, which was estimated at $440bn last year. This boosted the growth of vital sectors and pushed Qatar to advance to the forefront.
All these advanced local and international indicators I referred to earlier, strengthen the economic position of countries in the region, and push growth towards industrial and commercial development, as well as construction projects supported by state spending with simplified implementation legislations that are specifically geared to encourage investments.
The semi-annual economic report, which was prepared by the Secretariat of the Federation of GCC Chambers, estimated that industrial investments in the Gulf countries will nearly reach a trillion dollars by 2020, an increase of 209pc, compared to about $323bn at the present time. This is due to specific advancements in energy development, and the near completion of industrial cities in
GCC states.
The most prominent of those are Ras Laffan in Qatar, Energy City in Saudi Arabia, and the Modern City for Tomorrow’s Energy in Dubai.
The report pointed out that, by 2020, the GCC aimed at raising the industrial sector contribution to 25% of GDP within its countries, compared to about 10% at the moment, taking advantage of the continuous growth of this sector, and the size of government and private investments that are consistently flowing towards industrial projects.
The report also mentioned that in light of expectations to achieve the Gulf economy growth rate, which reached 4.2pc this year with a total value approaching
$1.7trillion compared to $1.65trillion in 2013, the GCC countries aspire to raise the contribution of some economic sectors in the GDP, especially the
industrial sector.
Future expectations for the State of Qatar as a model were recently announced, such as the Barzan gas production project, which will begin in 2015, with a maximum production capacity reaching 1.4 billion cubic feet per day, while energy production from the North Field will be around 22 billion cubic feet daily.
Qatar has already started producing GTL, diesel and naphtha. It is also improving its Dolphin project for gas export, and ameliorating its Gulf Gas Project that currently produces two billion cubic feet per day.
During a new qualitative study, the Gulf Petrochemical Union has said that Qatar’s sales volume for the years 2012 and 2013 in the chemicals sector amounted to $11.5bn, which is a strong indication of a vigorous non-oil economy.
Finally, indicators and statistics confirm that huge energy production, revenues and surpluses will act as a lifeboat during unexpected financial crisis.
