Qatar launches 2.6 billion-dollar Energy City
Qatar has launched a 2.6 billion-dollar project to build Energy City that aims to attract more of the world's energy players to set up shop in the resource-rich Gulf emirate.
The project, which will include an energy bourse and futures market, was inaugurated late Tuesday in Doha by Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani.
US software giant Microsoft has signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and install the city's information and technology network, according to an official statement.
"With the launch of Energy City, we have the opportunity to work together to create new tools and solutions that will enable oil and gas companies to achieve new levels of performance in every phase of their business," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said in a pre-recorded message played at the inauguration.
Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiya said the project is in line with the country's strategy to become "an energy capital and the world's foremost supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG)."
The emirate, which has the world's third-largest gas reserves, has been investing billions of dollars in recent years in the infrastructure needed to process and supply gas around the world.
Attiya said Qatar plans to export 77 million tonnes a year of LNG by 2012 compared with the present 25 million tonnes.
He said the emirate plans to have a fleet of 65 tankers for LNG transport.
Attiya, also said Qatar, which is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), will boost its oil production to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2010 from the present level of 800,000 bpd
Oil giants Total and ExxonMobile are among the most active players in Qatar's oil and gas industries.
In November, Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobile launched a 14 billion-dollar project to build the world's largest LNG refinery that will supply the US market.
The Qatari gas company Rasgas, which was established in 1993, is co-owned by the state-run Qatar Petroleum, which has a majority 63 percent stake, as well as ExxonMobil, Japan's Itochu Corporation and Nissho Iwai Corp and a consortium of south Korean companies, Kogas.
AFP
