In 2013, Qatar’s gas reserves were said to last another 156 years if the production levels stayed constant.

Exploration for oil in Qatar first began in 1935 at the Dukhan field. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which later became British Petroleum, was granted a 75-year oil concession allowing it to explore and produce oil from  all of Qatar’s land.

In return, the government received a royalty of 2 Indian rupees per ton of oil produced, a payment of Rs. 400,000 on signature, and annual sums of Rs. 150,000. APOC formed the Petroleum Department of Qatar, which went on to become Qatar Petroleum.

Qatar’s first offshore oil field was discovered in 1960 and the country became a member of OPEC in 1961.

In less than 20 years, Qatar became one of the world’s leading suppliers of liquefied natural gas. Qatar supplies a third of the global L.N.G requirements.

60% of the total exports from Qatar is L.N.G, followed by crude oil (30%). Japan, South Korea, and India are the main export partners.

Qatar has around 25,244 million barrels of crude oil reserves and around 24,531 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves.[TradingEconomics, GEOExPro, GulfTimes]