QatarEnergy profits down by 31%

• Revenues also down by 15%
• Gas prices fall after surge in 2022
• Results in line with other energy majors

Annual profits at QatarEnergy have dropped by almost a third after gas prices fell from the highs caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The state-owned company reported net profits of QAR101.9 billion ($28 billion) in 2023, down 31 percent on the previous year, when the start of the conflict in Eastern Europe caused gas prices to surge.

Revenues fell 15 percent year on year to QR159 billion.

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Demand for LNG, a fuel which often plays a major part in energy transitions, has grown in Asia. After the invasion of Ukraine, Europe has largely succeeded in replacing Russian gas with imports from the US and Qatar.

The drop is in line with the financial results of other major players in the industry. Shell announced in February that its 2023 profits had fallen 29 percent.

The main clients of Qatari gas are Asian countries, led by China, Japan and South Korea.

Qatar’s energy minister, Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, said last month that QatarEnergy had secured sales of 25 million tonnes of LNG in the past year and expected to sign more this year.

The Gulf state had previously said it was planning to expand production to 142 million tonnes by the end of the decade.

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Qatar, one of the world’s top LNG exporters, announced plans in February for an 85 percent expansion in LNG production from its North Field’s current 77 million tonnes per year (mtpa) to 142 mtpa by 2030.

Previously, the company was planning to expand up to 126 mtpa.

Earlier this month QatarEnergy signed two long-term naphtha supply agreements with Japanese companies.

It will provide Eneos Corporation, a Japanese refining and petrochemical company, with up to 9 million tonnes of naphtha, a partially refined petroleum product commonly used as a solvent, over 10 years, starting in July. 

QatarEnergy will also supply 6 million tonnes of naphtha to Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Company.

Global trade in LNG reached 404 million tonnes in 2023, up from 397 million tonnes in 2022, as tight supplies of LNG constrained growth, Shell’s LNG Outlook 2024 said.