QatarEnergy announced on 22 December that it has signed an agreement with Japan’s Qatar Petroleum Development (QPD) for the continued development of the offshore Al-Karkara and A-Structures oil fields. QPD is owned by Japan’s Cosmo (75%) and Sojitz (25%).

The new five-year agreement commenced on 23 December 2022, running until end-2027, replacing the previous license signed in December 1997. Output is around 6,000 b/d, and while QatarEnergy has increasingly been taking control of upstream licenses upon expiry, this was evidently too small to interest QatarEnergy. CEO Saad al-Kaabi says “We look forward to the next five years of cooperation with QPD, whose successful efforts have unlocked the capabilities of these relatively small fields and added value to our partnership.” (CONTINUED - 115 WORDS)