QatarEnergy expects the 8-million-tonne/year (tpy) first train of its 32-million-tpy North Field East (NFE) LNG expansion to begin operations in first-half 2027, with the timing of subsequent trains dependent on the Strait of Hormuz crisis, Reuters reported.

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum Special Edition in New York, QatarEnergy CEO and Qatari Minister of Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi attributed the uncertainty to delays in equipment deliveries needed for the expansion, caused by the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The schedule risk sits alongside a heavy repair workload at Ras Laffan. Al-Kaabi said repairs to the two LNG trains damaged during the Iran war — trains that represent 17% of Qatar's production capacity — will take 3 years. A damaged gas-to-liquids (GTL) train at the complex should return to service in first-quarter 2027.

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

NFE and NFS form part of the wider North Field expansion program, which also includes the North Field West project. Together, the three projects will raise Qatar's LNG production capacity to 142 million tpy from the current 77 million tpy.

Pipeline bypass dismissed

Al-Kaabi thanked Qatar's neighbors for their willingness to allow construction of a gas pipeline across their territories to bypass Hormuz, but he ruled the option out on economics. Such a line would be "redundant" and makes "no economic sense" given the North Field expansion already underway, he said.

"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 broadly, al-Kaabi rejected the idea that the waterway has lost its relevance, saying the strait "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 it.

US ventures on schedule

On the US Gulf Coast, the 18-million-tpy Golden Pass LNG joint venture with ExxonMobil Corp. will reach full capacity in 2028 as Trains 2 and 3 come online, al-Kaabi said. Both trains follow the project's first train, which anchors the Sabine Pass complex's expansion in Jefferson County, Tex.

Also in Jefferson County, the 2-million-tpy Golden Triangle Polymers joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LLC has started commissioning and will begin operations "in the next few weeks," according to the CEO.

The watch items: the first-quarter 2027 return of the damaged GTL train at Ras Laffan, the commissioning window for Golden Triangle Polymers, and the pace of equipment deliveries through Hormuz that will determine how many NFE trains follow Train 1 into service during 2027.