The world's biggest gas field lies between Qatar and Iran, and the half-competitive, half-cooperative race to exploit it has taken a new turn. In 1971, Shell first drilled into what became Qatar's North Field and was disappointed to find not oil, but gas, though in vast quantities. Through the 1980s and 1990s, it struggled to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to export to Asia, but with low global energy prices, a cost-cutting BP gave up and Mobil took over. There were good commercial reasons to halt -- the LNG market was becoming oversupplied and domestic construction capability was overstretched. This came only two months after Qatar announced the end of its moratorium, with the beginning of a new gas production project.

Source: Bangkok Post July 20, 2017 16:52 UTC