HSBC Holdings has said in a report that Qatar may have to lift a moratorium on further development at North Field, the world's largest natural gas reservoir, in order to generate enough electricity to stage the 2022 World Cup.
According to a report by Bloomberg, analysts from HSBC Holdings suggested that increased power needs due to the influx of labour and energy requirements for new hotels could encourage the moratorium on additional gas exploration at North Field to be lifted.
Qatar, which holds the world’s third largest gas reserves, won the bid to stage the 2022 World Cup last week.
The 2005 moratorium was initially imposed on future gas developments due to concerns that North Field was being drained too quickly. Saad al-Kaabi, director of oil and gas ventures at state-owned Qatar Petroleum, said last year that the moratorium wouldn’t be lifted before 2014, if at all.
Discovered in the early 1970s, the North Field contains reserves of about 900 trillion cubic feet (14 per cent of the world's total proven gas reserves) and covers a total 6,000 square kilometres.
Qatar shares North Field with Iran. Iran's South Pars, a super-giant, is an extension of North Field and is being developed in several stages.
Qatar is now the world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with a capacity of more than 31 million metric tons per annum.
Current operators in North Field include energy giants Total and ExxonMobil.
