Qatar Petroleum International plans Vietnam project

Qatar Petroleum International is eyeing a venture to build a petrochemical plant in Vietnam and is interested in investments in North American shale gas and Russia's Yamal gas project, QPI's chief executive said. "We're thinking of a joint petrochemical project in Vietnam. Our partner there is Petrovietnam and we may have some other partners from the far east, possibly a Thai company," Chief Executive Officer Nasser Al-Jaidah told Reuters in an interview at the World Petroleum Congress in Doha. Al-Jaidah said the company was considering investing in shale gas resources in North America. "We're thinking of it, and of North America in general. (We're considering investing) with our friends: Total, Shell, ExxonMobil, with whoever is going to deliver for us. We're focusing our discussions right now only with the IOCs (international oil companies)." Al-Jaidah said conversations were "not yet in deep." Power generation represented another target area for the company, he said. "We are still looking for opportunities in power generation in the region. We're thinking of Oman, we're thinking of Dubai. We're thinking of possibly liaising with an international power company in the UK or elsewhere." On Monday QPI signed a memorandum of understanding with British utility Centrica to look at joint investment opportunities.   Investment targets would include new or existing projects in upstream oil and gas including LNG, gas storage as well as combined-cycle gas turbine generation assets and downstream opportunities. "We're also working on a partnership with companies that have already invested in Qatar, some Japanese companies and also some local Qatari companies." "On the upstream side is where we really lack. We're working hard to find opportunities. They don't come easily in the environment we're in today, with the oil price what it is. But we still see some opportunities, and we're working hard with the IOCs to identify them." Jaidah said Qatar was keen to take a stake in the Yamal arctic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project under development by Russian gas producer Novatek. The project will develop the South Tambey field located in the Arctic area of the Yamal peninsula. "We're working on it. We are keen, but the economic reality has to prevail at the end of the day. We have to make it work economically."   Resources from the condensate and gas field are expected to produce 5 million tonnes of LNG per year when production starts in 2016 and reach 15 million tonnes per year in 2018. Two or three more foreign partners could join Total as investors in Yamal, Novatek's chief executive said in October. Shell, Statoil, Qatar Petroleum and ONGC are all considered potential partners in the project. Qatar's energy minister said last month that the country was also considering a stake in Russia's number-two gas producer Novatek, in addition to the Yamal project. "That is part of the concept. No detailed discussions have taken place yet, but that's the intention," Jaidah said. He said an investment in Australian LNG projects could be considered in the future. "Australia is important. It is crowded and expensive, but if the right opportunity were there, we would be more than happy to participate. Our appetite generally is for existing production that is established."