His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs and President and CEO of QatarEnergy, reiterated Qatar’s commitment to supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries worldwide during a “Newsmaker Interview” at the Doha Forum 2025.
Al-Kaabi stated, “This has been our position since 2017 when we announced we are going to embark on a huge LNG expansion. We have announced that we are raising production from 77 million to 142 million tons per annum in-country. An additional 18 million tons will come from our Golden Pass terminal project in the United States. We are ready to support all nations for their LNG needs if it is commercially viable for both sides.”
He outlined the expected timeline for new production volumes: “The first train will come online in Qatar, hopefully by the third quarter of next year. In the US, we have started the commissioning of the first train of Golden Pass LNG, which should, hopefully, come online by the end of the first quarter of 2026, followed sequentially by the other two trains in the US.”
Addressing concerns about global demand for LNG, Al-Kaabi said: “I have no worry at all about demand in the future. I have a worry about lack of investment for additional supply in the future, which will cause prices to spike. Global growth is continuing. Yet we have more than a billion people that do not have basic electricity that we all enjoy. We need to address energy poverty. We need gas to power factories to create jobs. And we need to invest in the future.”
He added that current global LNG production stands at around 400 million tons per year but projected demand could reach between 600 and 700 million tons by 2035, driven largely by Asian markets and increasing needs elsewhere.
Al-Kaabi also discussed how artificial intelligence (AI) is influencing energy consumption patterns: “AI is completely different than the normal household power. It is like a factory that requires energy around the clock. It requires baseload energy that you would need as any country. This is permanent growth day and night; unlike households whose consumption patterns change between day and night.”
On oil prices, he commented on balancing revenue generation with affordability: “I think the range of between 70 and 80 dollars per barrel can be a fair price to ensure both.”
Regarding European regulations affecting global companies, Al-Kaabi expressed appreciation for recent legislative changes: “we look forward to the ‘trilogue’ between the EU’s Commission, Council, and Parliament to resolve these issues that are of great concern not only to oil and gas companies, but to all companies.”
Discussing climate goals and emissions reductions efforts, he stated net-zero emissions were unrealistic but highlighted QatarEnergy’s ongoing initiatives: “We have not changed our position. However, we are doing something about it. We have the largest CO2 capture and sequestration site in the Middle East and North Africa region with a capacity of 2.5 million tons per annum to be raised to 11 million tons by 2030 and about 13 million tons by 2035.”
Al-Kaabi also noted progress on various large-scale projects involving LNG as well as petrochemicals, fertilizers, polymers, urea production, and solar energy.
The Doha Forum was established in 2000 as an international platform bringing together policy leaders for dialogue on key global challenges.
