QatarEnergy expects the 8-million tonne/year (tpy) first train of its 32-million tpy North Field East (NFE) LNG expansion project to begin operations in first-half 2027, Reuters reported, noting that the timing of additional trains would depend on ​the Strait of Hormuz crisis.

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum Special Edition in New York, QatarEnergy chief executive officer (CEO) and Qatari minister of energy affairs, Saad al-Kaabi, attributed the uncertainty to delays in delivering equipment needed for the expansion caused by the Strait of Hormuz disruption.

Regarding damage to Qatar’s natural gas infrastructure sustained during the Iran war and its possible return, al-Kaabi said that repairs to the two LNG trains damaged at Ras Laffan (17% of its production capacity) would take 3 years. A damaged gas-to-liquids (GTL) train is expected to return to service first-quarter 2027.

Al-Kaabi expects “a few” NFE trains to start production as 2027 progresses, and output from the 16-million tpy North Field South (NFS) expansion to begin in 2028, according to Reuters.

The NFE and NFS projects are part of the overall North Field expansion program that also includes the North Field West project, which together will raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 142 million tpy from the current 77 million tpy.

Al-Kaabi also thanked Qatar’s neighbors for being willing to allow construction of a gas pipeline across their territories to bypass Hormuz, while noting that doing so would be “redundant” and made “no economic sense” in light of the already underway North Field expansion project. “As for resuming operations,” he added, “Qatar is ready to resume normal operations within a few weeks of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.”

More generally, al-Kaabi rejected the notion that the Strait of Hormuz was obsolete, saying that it “carries trade in all products, not only oil and gas, to and from all its adjacent countries” and stressing the need for normal movement across the waterway.

The company’s 18-million tpy Golden Pass LNG joint venture (JV) with ExxonMobil Corp. is to reach full capacity in 2028 as Trains 2 and 3 come online, according to al-Kaabi, who added that its 2-million tpy Golden Triangle Polymers JV with Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC had started commissioning and would begin operations “in the next few weeks.” Both plants are in Jefferson County, Tex.