24 April 2006
The UK is to receive up to a fifth of its natural gas demand from the world's largest gas field by 2009, the department of trade and industry has said.
Gas will first arrive from Qatar next year in the form of liquid natural gas, which can be turned into gas and added to the national supply when needed.
Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said that purchasing gas from Qatar would help increase the diversity of the UK's energy mix and increase the reliability of supply.
"This is a key issue for global energy markets amid increasing oil price volatility," he added.
"And with oil prices over $70, energy markets are at the top of the domestic and international agenda."
Mr Wicks was speaking ahead of the International Energy Forum (IEF), which took place in Doha over the weekend.
"For the UK this meeting of the IEF is particularly timely. North Sea energy production is declining and we are becoming more reliant on imported energy," he explained.
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