VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDO #0027/01 0211008
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 211008Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9644
INFO RUCNGEC/GAS EXPORTING COUNTRIES COLLECTIVE
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000027 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2019 
TAGS: ENRG PREL TRGY EPET QA
SUBJECT: ENERGY DEPSEC RECEIVES OVERVIEW OF QATAR'S ENERGY 
SECTOR 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Joseph E. LeBaron, for reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
-------------- 
(C) KEY POINTS 
-------------- 
 
--  Deputy Secretary of Energy Poneman told Energy Minister 
(and Deputy Prime Minister) Al-Attiyah December 10 that the 
U.S., like Qatar, is diversifying its energy sources by 
promoting new technologies and scientific research. 
Al-Attiyah responded that natural gas from Qatar's North 
Field is the bread and butter of Qatar's energy sector. 
 
--  The Deputy PM told Poneman that Qatar has a moratorium on 
future development of the North Field because Qatar wants to 
maintain its future viability.  Without careful study on 
increasing production beyond the current projections (23 
billion cubic feet by 2013), Qatar runs the risk of "losing 
the whole reserve." 
 
--   Al-Attiyah stressed that Qatar is ready and willing to 
sell natural to the U.S. -- at the right price.  (Right now, 
with prices low, it costs Qatar more to ship the LNG than to 
sell it.) 
 
-- Qatar's supply of LNG and shipping capacity makes it the 
most flexible supplier of LNG in the world, meaning that 
Qatar can easily divert supplies from less profitable markets 
(such as the U.S.) to more profitable ones (India and China). 
 
--  Ministry of Energy officials welcomed a discussion with 
DoE experts on technical assistance to address 
vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure once private 
contractors complete their assessment in Qatar of those 
vulnerabilities. 
 
--  On the prospects of countries coming together and doing 
what is necessary on climate change, Al-Attiyah was not 
optimistic. 
 
End Key Points. 
 
¶1. (C)  Deputy Prime Minister (also Minister of Energy and 
head of Qatar Petroleum) Abdullah Al-Attiyah welcomed Deputy 
Secretary Daniel Poneman December 10, saying that he welcomed 
the renewed contact with the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) 
under Secretary Chu.  Al-Attiyah said before meeting 
Secretary Chu in Washington last June, others in the region 
had expressed concern that the new Secretary had "a different 
agenda than oil and gas."  Contrary to what he had been told, 
said Al-Attiyah, their first meeting was "very satisfying." 
 
¶2. (C) DepSec Poneman said he headed an interagency 
delegation composed of Energy, State and the NSC because the 
relationship the U.S. enjoys with Qatar goes well beyond 
energy.  While gratified by the relationship on issues of oil 
and natural gas, the U.S. also recognized that the 
relationship is being renewed and enriched in areas as 
diverse as higher education and the pursuit of new 
technologies, such as solar energy.  The Deputy Secretary 
noted that the U.S., like Qatar, is diversifying its energy 
sources and making progress toward establishing smart 
electrical grids and renewable sources of energy -- solar, 
geothermal, and biomass.  DoE is also investing considerable 
amounts of money in support of science.  Al-Attiyah 
enthusiastically interjected that the U.S. budget for 
scientific research is "huge."  Deputy Secretary Poneman 
responded by noting that hundreds of billions of dollars are 
also being spent in the U.S. on smart grid management. 
 
¶3. (C) Despite these new initiatives, Al-Attiyah stressed the 
centrality for Qatar of hydrocarbon production, especially 
from its North Field, the largest non-associated natural gas 
field in the world, lying 80 kilometers off Qatar's shore 
beneath shallow waters of the Gulf.  Al-Attiyah noted that 
when the field was first discovered in 1971, there was 
genuine disappointment that the field did not contain oil. 
By the late 1990s, Qatar began "paying full attention" to 
this discovery, and now ten years later production from the 
North Field has risen to more than 68 million tons of natural 
gas -- and no one is disappointed.  That production is 
expected to increase further to 78 million tons in 2010. 
 
STUDYING THE NORTH FIELD 
------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Asked for insights into Qatar's moratorium on new 
exploration in the North Field, Al-Attiyah responded that 
without careful study on increasing production beyond the 
 
current projections (23 billion cubic feet by 2013), "we'll 
lose the whole reserve" based on the history of others' 
experiences.  The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that Qatar 
already draws "a huge quantity" of natural gas from the North 
Field and wants to maintain its future viability.  He then 
asked Director of Oil and Gas Ventures Saad Al-Kaabi, who is 
conducting a study related to extending or lifting the 
moratorium, to take the floor. 
 
¶5. (C) Al-Kaabi began by noting that when Al-Attiyah took 
charge of Qatar's energy portfolio, the North Field produced 
0.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas.  Today, the figure is 
14 billion.  Qatar is now the third-largest exporter of 
natural gas from a single field in the world.  The North 
Field is a young field, and only by studying the geoscience 
of it, as well as its dynamic production data, can SGI 
supercomputers (imported from the U.S. under license) 
generate the data to ensure Qatar that expanded production 
will be viable.  With computer modeling support from SSI 
(another U.S. company), Qatar Petroleum is analyzing the 
options for expanded production.  Poneman responded to 
Al-Kaabi's presentation by observing that U.S. energy 
laboratories' capabilities in analyzing the flow of liquids 
through oceans could be of some help to Qatar and that the 
U.S. would be happy to demonstrate this capability to Qatar 
Petroleum. 
 
QATAR AS FLEXIBLE SUPPLIER 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Beyond exploitation of the North Field, Al-Attiyah 
expressed pride in Qatar's having built the largest LNG 
shipping fleet in the world, 54 ships.  He noted that Qatar's 
biggest vessels (Q-Flex) carry 220,000 cubic meters of 
product compared to the 155,000 cubic meters prior to their 
development and the production of Qatar's older Q-Max 
vessels. 
 
¶7. (C) Al-Attiyah said Qatar aims to harness all its 
distribution and production methods to serve consumers around 
the globe.  He cited Argentina, Chile, Canada and Mexico as 
recent new markets for Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG). 
Qatar, he continued, is also the biggest Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) 
producer in the world, having partnered with the Germans on 
the Oryx project, whose production will be eclipsed in 2010 
or 2011 by Shell's new venture, expected to produce 34,000 
barrels per day when it becomes operational.  Al-Attiyah took 
pride in Qatar's "historic decision" to take a risk on GTL 
technology, noting that the effort was successful. 
 
¶8. (C) Despite the promising new technologies, the Deputy 
Prime Minister made the point that exports of LNG remain 
Qatar's bread and butter.  Lately, natural gas prices had 
fallen to the point that the cost of transporting Qatar's 
product to the U.S. was greater than the selling price. 
Based on the energy yielded per British Thermal Unit (BTU), 
clean-burning natural gas is priced at USD 2.50 per million 
BTUs compared to USD 15 for the equivalent amount of oil. 
Based on market prices, oil is valued more than natural gas 
even though the latter is environmentally more friendly.  At 
current LNG market prices, Al-Attiyah asserted that it is 
better for Qatar to sell gas to India and China than lose 
money by shipping it to the U.S.  Al-Attiyah expressed 
disappointment that oil continues to be priced at a premium 
to natural gas and said Qatar seeks "at least parity" with 
oil for natural gas based on BTU energy equivalency. 
 
¶9. (C) When Qatar, in partnership with ExxonMobil and 
ConocoPhillips, agreed to establish the Golden Pass facility 
in Texas, natural gas sold at USD 4.50 per million BTUs, 
compared to USD 2.50 today.  At that price, building the 
facility near the border with Louisiana made "great sense," 
said Al-Attiyah.  The reality today is that the situation has 
changed.  LNG producers like Qatar cannot shut down 
production the way that other natural gas producers can when 
the selling price becomes too low. Qatar can, however, divert 
supplies to markets where the profits are greater thanks to 
lower transportation costs. 
 
¶10. (C) That said, Al-Attiyah stressed that Qatar is ready 
and willing to sell to the U.S. -- at the right price. 
Qatar's supply of LNG and shipping capacity makes it the most 
flexible supplier of LNG in the world, he said.  Qatar did 
not achieve this success alone.  It has learned from others, 
and considers the U.S. a strategic partner.  Al-Attiyah 
underscored the "great cooperation" with U.S. energy firms 
such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron.  The Deputy 
Prime Minister said every June he travels to the U.S. to meet 
with current and future potential partners, as well as the 
 
USG. 
 
SKEPTICISM ON CLIMATE POLICY CHANGES 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶11. (C) Turning to emissions of greenhouse gases, PDAS for 
DoE Policy and International Affairs Elkind reported that the 
U.S. is working hard on enacting climate change legislation 
that would price natural gas more favorably and offer new 
incentives and more favorable terms for suppliers like Qatar. 
 Al-Attiyah was not optimistic that U.S. legislators from 
coal states would support new legislation.  Noting the 
importance of Pennsylvania and Ohio in U.S. presidential 
elections and the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of 
jobs in the coal industry, Al-Attiyah predicted a hard road 
ahead.  That said, he would naturally welcome new legislation 
to increase the incentives for natural gas consumption. 
 
¶12. (C) Deputy Secretary Poneman reiterated the benefits of 
using more natural gas, whose emissions were half those of 
coal.  He said Secretary Chu, who would attend the Copenhagen 
conference on climate change, would make an important U.S. 
commitment to reduce carbon emissions in advance of 
Congressional consideration. 
 
¶13. (C) Again skeptical about the prospects for change, 
Al-Attiyah said he had been elected to head a UN sustainable 
development committee a few years ago.  His experience taught 
him how difficult it is for nations to achieve consensus, as 
he eventually submitted a chairman's text because the parties 
at the table could not agree on a text of their own.  In the 
current context, he said it would be difficult for China, 
Russia, the Western countries and the G-77 given their 
"diverse agendas" to come together. 
 
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (C) Turning to critical infrastructure protection, 
Al-Attiyah asked Brigadier General Abdulaziz Al-Ansari, 
charged with QP security, to give a snapshot.  He began by 
noting Qatar's request to participate in Customs-Trade 
Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) as a necessary step 
from the U.S. side to establishing a bilateral agreement that 
would facilitate the entry of QP LNG vessels to U.S. ports. 
To this end, he noted that the U.S. Coast Guard had completed 
a full assessment of Qatar's ports.  Now, Qatar awaited what 
it hoped would be a speedy U.S. response to its requests. 
 
¶15. (C) Asked by Ambassador about Qatar's National Security 
Shield (NSS), Al-Ansari said the concept came about as a 
result of the need to protect Qatar's oil and gas 
infrastructure.  The Ministry of Interior, to this end, had 
established an interagency coordination committee, he 
briefed. 
 
¶16. (C) DoE DAS for Electricity Delivery and Energy 
Reliability Bill Bryan said DoE offered a systems approach to 
infrastructure security.  Noting that QP had hired private 
companies to provide an assessment of vulnerability and 
received another from the U.S. Coast Guard, DAS Bryan said 
DoE can offer a "unified approach," bringing together all the 
right players.  Al-Attiyah commented this was an advantage 
given the difficulty in the U.S. of coordinating across 
agencies.  DAS Bryan agreed and offered DoE's "robust 
cooperation" with Saudi Arabia as a regional example. 
Al-Ansari took up DAS Bryan's offer to discuss how the U.S. 
could help after the ongoing assessments. 
 
¶17. (U) Deputy Secretary Poneman did not clear this message. 
 
LeBaron