The Qatari government celebrated twenty years of independence in September 1991 with the inauguration of Phase One of the North Field development project. The gas project, in a 6,000-squarekilometer field off Qatar's northeast coast, is supervised by Bechtel of the United States and by Technip Geoproduction of France. The project marks a major step in Qatar's switch from a reliance on oil to gas for most of its revenues. The North Field is the world's largest natural gas field, and its exploitation will place Qatar in the top ranks of the world's gas producers. Natural gas from other fields provides fuel for power generation and raw materials for fertilizers, petrochemicals, and steel plants. With the expected depletion of oil reserves by about 2023, planners hope natural gas from the North Field will provide a significant underpinning for the country's economic development.

In the early 1970s, Qatar flared about 80 percent of the 16.8 million cubic meters of natural gas produced daily in association with crude oil liftings. In that decade, the country made progress in using its natural gas resources despite several setbacks. Whereas nearly 66 percent of onshore gas was flared in 1974, by 1979 that proportion had fallen to less than 5 percent.

Two natural gas liquids (NGL) plants began operation in Umm Said in 1981. NGL-1 used gas produced from the Dukhan field, and NGL-2 processed gas associated with offshore fields. The combined daily capacities were 2,378 tons of propane, 1,840 tons of butane, 1,480 tons of condensate, and 2,495 tons of ethane-rich gas. However, repeated difficulties prevented the plants from coming on-line as scheduled and operating at full capacity. A massive explosion at the precursor of NGL-1 in 1977 killed six people and caused US$500 million in damage. NGL-2 had problems with the pipelines that connected the plant with offshore fields. The sharp drop in oil production in the 1980s meant that lack of feedstock caused plant shutdowns and underproduction. As a result, downstream (see Glossary) users suffered as well. In 1982 the two plants produced 500,000 tons of propane and butane-- slightly more than one-half of plant capacity. Condensate production lagged even further at 138,000 tons, or 40 percent of capacity.

This gloomy outlook is mitigated to some degree by hope for development of the massive natural gas reserves in the North Field. Discovered in 1972 by SCQ, its proven reserves of 4.6 million cubic meters (as of 1989) will be productive well into the twenty-first century. The Qatar Liquefied Gas Company (Qatargas) was established in 1984 as a joint venture with QGPC and foreign partners to market and export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the North Field.

Phase One of the US$1.3 billion project was officially inaugurated on September 3, 1991. By the end of the month, it was pumping 23 million cubic meters of gas per day from sixteen wells. This is expected to meet an estimated 17 million cubic meters per day of domestic demand.

QGPC plans a massive development at Ras Laffan in association w3c2 with the North Field project. In addition to a new port with LNG, petroleum products, and container loading berths, project plans include a 2,500-ton per year methanol plant and a 450,000-ton per year petrochemical complex. The development is scheduled for completion in the late 1990s.

In line with its desire to diversify the firms engaged in developing its resources, Qatar signed a letter of intent in February 1991 with Chubu Electrical Power Company of Japan to supply 4 million tons per year of North Field gas for twenty-five years, starting in 1997. This amount represents two-thirds of Qatargas's expected capacity of about 6 million tons per year.

Data as of January 1993