A string of mega-projects to produce clean, liquid fuels from Qatars gas reserves - the world third largest - and increased crude oil output will put the Gulf state in the big league of energy exporters by the end of the decade. Qatars Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told the Reuters Global Energy Summit yesterday that the countrys combined liquid gas and oil output was on track to be over 6mn bpd by 2010. “This is a huge quantity,” he said by telephone from Doha. “Qatar would be the second equivalents producer in the area after Aramco.” Al-Attiyah said there was strong global demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), with markets ranging from Europe, and the US, to Indonesia and China. But he said Qatar would only embark on a second wave of expansion when it is satisfied it can crank up gas production without compromising the lifespan of the North Field, the jewel in its energy crown. Al-Attiyah said Qatar hoped to be able to indicate in a year or two how and when further gas projects can proceed, once a study has been completed on the impact of rising gas output on the fields reservoir. “We have to be very careful (with the North Field),” he said. “We have to pay a lot of attention to the reservoir, we dont want to damage it,” he said. “We are not an oil company, we are a country, we have to be very careful to extend the life of the field,” said Attiyah. The next move in Qatars rise as a gas giant will be next months inauguration of the $1bn Oryx gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at Ras Laffan in the worlds first commercial scale use of GTL technology to produce clean fuels. The project is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and South Africas Sasol. Al-Attiyah said he was optimistic the bigger Pearl GTL project, being developed by QP and Royal Dutch Shell at a cost of several billion dollars, would proceed despite concerns about rising costs because of a tight market for contractors. “We are very optimistic that hopefully this project will be live soon,” he said. Shell said last week it expects a final investment decision on Pearl by the end of this year. Other GTL projects have been put on hold during the assessment of the North field. Qatar is backing GTL in parallel with LNG, and pipeline gas, as it brings its gas to market. “GTL will be the fuel of the 21st century, it will play a very important role (as a fuel for) public transportation, while LNG will be very important in power generation,” said al-Attiyah. The rapid growth of Qatars LNG industry, where QP has joint ventures with ExxonMobil, Shell and ConocoPhillips among others, is on schedule despite rising costs because of a tight market for engineering contractors. Al-Attiyah said Qatar would stick with contract terms signed with its partner in the 1990s when oil prices were lower, though future terms would have to reflect todays market. He said Qatargas IV, a multi-billion LNG project with Shell, is set to launch on time at the end of 2010. Commercial terms with Shell had been finalised, he said. Qatar plans to use its successful expansion at home as a springboard for growth abroad, via a newly created international arm. Al-Attiyah said the company was in talks with potential partners in India and China, and looking at ways to further bolster its presence in Europe. PIN/REUTERS