Qatar To Renew UAE Condensate Contracts For 2015

Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Co, or Tasweeq, plans to renew its contract to supply condensate to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for 2015, the company’s chief executive said on Monday.

Under the current 2014 contact, Tasweeq supplies three cargoes a month to the UAE, two to Dhabi’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) and one to Abu Dhabi’s National Oil company (ADNOC), Saad al-Kuwari told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event in Doha.

Each cargo has 500,000 tonnes of condensate, he said.

“The ENOC contract expires soon and we plan to renew it. We will supply (ENOC) with same volumes and any extra demand will depend on availability,” said Kuwari.

Last year, ENOC said it had started importing condensate from Qatar to replace sanctioned Iranian oil.

ENOC was the biggest buyer of Iranian condensate in 2012 when its imports rose to an average of 127,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from 106,000 bpd in 2011, despite U.S. pressure to stop the trade.

Asked if Qatar would discount its condensate to compete with Iran, Kuwari said there were no plans to do so.

“The price is market driven and the outlook for demand is positive for next year. We have no plans to discount because we have a different quality of products and long-term contracts,” he said.

Qatar expects a drop in its condensate exports to 350,000 tonnes per annum in 2017, compared with the current half a million tonnes a year, as the phase two of the Ras Laffan refinery will come online by the end of 2016.

“I don’t think this will cause any major disruption in the market because there will be more supply coming from the U.S.,” said Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, marketing director for filed condensates at Tasweeq.

He added that in terms of exports 70-80 per cent of contracts were on a long-term basis and 60 per cent were sold to Korea and Japan.