Qatar's natural gas: The foreign-policy driver

Middle East Policy

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2007, Pages 136-142

  Dargin, Justin ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 34548408209     PISSN: 10611924     EISSN: 14754967     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.2007.00318.x     Document Type: Article

References (14)

1. The name for this body of water has been disputed since the 1960s between the Arab countries and Iran. In this article the more traditional designation will be used.
2. Oil and Gas Journal Estimates, January 1, 2007.
3. This is the geological extension of Iran's South Pars field, which holds an estimated 280 tcf of recoverable natural-gas reserves. See Energy Information Administration: Country Brief Qatar http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Qatar/ NaturalGas.html.
4. The group in the Gulf countries that traditionally had significant political power vis-à-vis the emir was the merchant class, roughly comparable to the bourgeoisie in pre-revolutionary France.
5. As American troops have been under pressure to move out of Saudi Arabia, Qatar has welcomed them and serves as a permanent U.S. base. This gesture has been conducted against the wishes of many in the region, but it further illustrates the lengths to which Qatar will go to exercise its independence. See "Global Security: Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar" http://www. globalsecurity.org/military/facility/udeid.htm.
6. See "Shell Website: Shell in Australia" http://www.shell.com/ home/content2/au-en/about_shell/2006/how_we_work/upstream_working.html.
7. Disputes have taken the form of the "correct" naming of the Persian Gulf, alleged overproduction of the North Field/South Pars gas structure, as well as suspicions about attempted assassinations and the political agitation of Qatar's Shia population.
8. See International Court of Justice http://www.icj-cij.org/homepage/index. php?p1=0.
9. See Energy City http://www.energycity.com/.
10. Energy Information Agency: Country Brief Qatar Natural Gas. http://www.eia.org.
11. The International Energy Agency www.iea.org.
12. Given Qatar's enormous projected LNG production, its role in the group could theoretically mimic Saudi Arabia's role of "swing producer."
13. See Lee Hudson Teslik, "A Cartel by Any Other Name," Council on Foreign Relations http://www.cfr.org/publication/13023/ cartel_by_any_other_name.html?breadcrumb=%2Fregion%2F412%2Fqatar.
14. See "A Gas OPEC: The Route to Global Gas Market Power," April 10, 2007, Wood Mackenzie Press Release http://www.woodmacresearch.com/cgi-bin/ corp/portal/corp/corpPressDetail.jsp?oid=828403.