You are all most welcome in Qatar. It is a pleasure to me to meet you here today at the opening of Doha Fifth Liquefied Natural Gas Conference, which is convened this year under the motto of: “Wide Horizons”.

      I commend your conference for intending to address a number of major topics relating to the development of natural gas industry and exportation. It is an industry that has gained mounting interest in recent years by both the gas exporting and importing countries since natural gas has proved to be a source of clean energy and established itself as a major tributary that supports industrial development in the world.

      This joint interest by the exporters and importers will drive both parties to continue their cooperation to maintain stability of the world market on equitable terms that guarantee the interests of all parties.

      Doha Natural Gas Conference has become one of the regular world events which many of those concerned with the natural gas industry in the world are keen to attend and follow up. This proves this industry’s great potential to satisfy many of the economic and environmental requirements of a growing number of countries, and establishes the conviction of gas producing countries, one of which is Qatar, in the importance of continuation of further developing this industry and amassing the necessary investments for it, as well as to keep looking for any new ideas that are capable of contributing to promoting it.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

      Qatar is constantly keen on giving all foreign investors the opportunity to get closely acquainted with its new projects in the field of developing the production of energy, and see the progress made in the natural gas industry. It is a source of pleasure that this conference is convened after our celebration yesterday of laying the foundation stone for Qatargas (2) Project, which is the world largest project for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), at the cost of 12 billion U.S. Dollars. It represents further evidence confirming the increase of the trust of financial institutions and creditors in Qatar’s ability to achieve a great leap in LNG processing and bringing it to the world markets.

      Moreover, our meeting today is taking place at the time we are going to celebrate the signing of a final Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) between Rasgas (2) Company and [Distrigas – Europe] for the export of 2 million tons of LNG through Zeebrugge Terminal in Belgium, which will increase our capability to entering the world markets from several inlets.

      The flourishing of the natural gas industry in the world at present is due to the increase of world demand and the development of the technology needed for that industry. This confirms the soundness of the strategic course we have been committed to for years to develop our industries of natural gas and its by-products. It reinforces the vision we have adopted to diversify our means of dealing with this vital industrial resource, which gave our country the opportunity to make optimum use of our large gas reserves, whether by establishing projects for the production and exportation of liquefied gas or by transporting gas via pipelines, or by turning it into petroleum liquids [gas-to-liquids].

      The State has not confined its attention to this industry alone but also covered other gas-related industries such as those using gas as a feed, as in the fertilizers and petrochemical industries, or those which intensely depend on gas as a source of energy, such as the steel and aluminium industries. It gives me pleasure to announce here that QASCO will be signing today a contract with the Japanese Kobe Steel Company for the construction of a direct reduction steel plant, with a designed power that will double Qatar’s production of this steel when this project is commissioned to work.

      As a result of the attention given by the State to these industries, Qatar has been able to improve its economic performance indexes noticeably, which placed it in a forward international position for a number of major industries, specially since it had concluded agreements with a group of prominent world firms to execute gigantic new projects, in which investments exceeded 60 billion Dollars, which confirms our country’s keenness on turning its projects in the field of energy into a mechanism that reinforces its integration into the world economy and enhances its successful partnership with its various parties.

Honourable Audience,

      The expansions in the gas industry in Qatar have contributed to lowering the cost of production and increasing the ability of the Qatari gas to compete in world markets. This success was achieved thanks to the strong infra-structure of this industry, which ensured optimum use of our natural resources despite the fact that the cost of LNG projects is high and needs huge investments, and this is why we always take our time and carefully study our options and make sure first of the economic feasibility of any project before we start it.

      Moreover, our concern with the lowering of the capital and operational cost of gas production and processing projects leads us before starting any new projects to consider all possible alternatives for expansion of the existing LNG projects by adding new production units to the existing ones to achieve substantial economic savings that could lower the cost and increase the profits.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

      Natural gas has, indeed, proved that it is environment friendly, and that expansion in relying on it brings about positive results to various aspects of life. Hence, out of its keenness on taking part in the international efforts to preserve the environment, Qatar pays great attention to have all phases of gas production on its territory carried out on a distinctive technical standard that limits the risks of pollution. This required issuing a number of legislations stipulating strict conditions to be followed by the expansion process in the production of gas according to the applicable international standards and rules for environmental protection.

      Your conference could be an opportunity through which new ideas could be put forward for furthering reliance on natural gas as a source of clean energy that responds to the environmental and health challenges which no one can ignore when discussing the growing international need for energy and its impact on the environment.

      It is not a secret, Honourable Audience, that development of the natural gas industry is facing technological and marketing challenges that call for your consideration and contribution of opinion towards drawing creative visions to address those challenges. There is urgent need for providing a proper infrastructure for that industry, that can meet the growing world demand; an infra-structure that works according to the most advanced technologies, so as to be able to raise the efficiency of performance and lower the costs. This requires developing advanced methods, whether by horizontal or vertical expansion in production, while being committed to the systems of environmental protection and building a qualified cadre having the necessary skills to manage all those tasks.

      The need for transporting gas products to world markets in a safe and regular way is not less challenging. We in Qatar have managed, in this respect and according to our visions, to build around the gas industry a network of new industries, and have been able to launch a national project specialized in tankers industry in partnership with the citizens through their investments in Qatar Gas Transport Company [Naqilat] which has been founded as a joint stock company. 50% of its capital has actually been put for subscription in the stock market. The company shall concentrate its activity on owning the best giant tankers for shipping liquefied gas and transporting it to Asia, Europe and Northern America.

      While developing its hydro-carbon resources, the State of Qatar is keen on making use of the distinctive capabilities of its national companies and opening the door to welcome foreign partners and investors to invest their capitals and administrative expertise and technological skills, benefiting from the stable political, economic and legislative atmosphere in our country, which we are always keen to develop in a way that has greatly enhanced the trust of monetary institutions in the ability of Qatar gas industry projects and the efficacy of its plans for present and future expansion.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for your attendance, and I wish you and your conference all success.

May the peace, the mercy and the blessings of God be upon you.