ArabicNews.com: Shell invests in billions of dollars in the Qatari gas: “The British-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell group announced determination to spend $6 billion for establishing a factory to transform gas into a liquid fuel in Qatar. The group's executive director Jeroen van der Veer did not specify any time for these investments upon announcing this project in a press conference organized by "Business Week" magazine in Paris.” (ShellNews.net) 7 Dec 04

Qatar, Business, 12/7/2004

The British-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell group announced determination to spend $6 billion for establishing a factory to transform gas into a liquid fuel in Qatar.

The group's executive director Jeroen van der Veer did not specify any time for these investments upon announcing this project in a press conference organized by "Business Week" magazine in Paris.

For his part, Qatar's minister of energy and industry Abdullah Bin Hamad al-Ateyah said that the country has contracted for the establishment of two units to liquefy natural gas at a capacity of 8 million metric tons annually so as to contribute to the increasing demands for the Qatari gas internationally.

Al-Ateyah said that Qatar has been exporting liquid gas since years to Japan, south Korea, India and Spain with contracts confirmed for exportation to Italy, Belgium, France and Britain and future plans to export gas for the USA and Taiwan.

Shell had signed an agreement with Qatar's oil company at a volume of $ five billion in October of 2003.

Factories in these projects convert natural gas into fuels and oil byproducts like Diesel which Europe faces a shortage, as oil refining companies do not have enough capacity to meet the increasing demands for this material.

Worthy mentioning that Qatar signed deals that surpassed in its total investments $ 20 billion with the aim of establishing projects for converting natural gas into liquid within plans aiming to make use of its huge reserves of natural gas.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/041207/2004120705.html