Qatar's Energy Industry

Qatar: gas-driven growth and diversification

Qatar’s oil and gas sector, led by QatarEnergy and overseen by the Ministry of Energy, has shaped the country’s modern development since oil was discovered in the mid-20th century. The offshore North Field – discovered in 1971 and shared with Iran’s South Pars – is widely recognised as the world’s largest non-associated natural gas field and holds recoverable reserves of more than 25.5 tcm.

Hydrocarbons activities and affiliated operations remain the backbone of Qatar’s economy, accounting for more than 70% of government revenues and the majority of export earnings in recent years. The state-owned company manages the country’s upstream and downstream oil and gas activities, including production, processing and export infrastructure, while the government continues to prioritise the sector as a cornerstone of national development.

Qatar has invested heavily in LNG since the 1990s and remains among the world’s leading exporters. The country was the world’s third-largest LNG exporter in 2024, behind the US and Australia, exporting around 77 million tonnes that year. Qatar’s LNG exports have traditionally been sold under long-term, oil-indexed contracts, although the market has increasingly shifted towards shorter-term and more flexible arrangements as buyers diversify supply sources. Asia remains Qatar’s largest LNG market, but European demand for Qatari LNG has grown in recent years amid security-of-supply concerns.

While Qatar’s power generation has historically relied almost entirely on natural gas, the country has moved to expand renewable capacity, particularly solar. In 2024, Kahramaa launched the Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, which targets around 4 GW of utility-scale renewable capacity by 2030, raising renewables’ share of the power mix from about 5% to 18% by the end of the decade. Qatar’s first large-scale solar plant, the 800-MWp Al Kharsaah facility, was commissioned in 2022, with additional projects developed more recently to support the country’s longer-term diversification goals.