Discovered in 1971, NGF lies mainly offshore to the north east of the Qatar Peninsula under water depths ranging between 15 and 70 meters and covers an area of some 6000 square kilometers. It is the world's largest concentration of natural gas with total reserves of more than 900 trillion cubic feet, representing 20% of the world's gas reserves, which makes Qatar the third largest country with the biggest natural gas reserves after the Federal Republic of Russia and Iran.
Untill the 1980 of last century, domestic requirements for natural gas were met from the production of Dukhan onshore fields; and after suddenly the need for natural gas increased, QP started to develop the north gas field by establishing in 1987 the first phase installations, which were completely operational in 1991. The offshore production facility delivers gas through a subsea pipeline to Ras Laffan, from where it is transported onshore by pipelines to mesaieed, the first industrial city in Qatar to house petrochemical and refining complexes.
The NGF is a major source of investment in the field of gas production and gas downstream industries due to the concentration of vast quantities of gas in one area, and to the favorable weather and geographical conditions that make production easier and less costly compared to other areas in the world. In light of those massive gas reserves of the NGF and the value of gas as a cheap, clean and long-lasting source of energy, QP has drawn up a strategic plan to develop the field in phases and optimize the utilization of its resources with the aim to realize new financial revenues by exporting gas in liquefied form or through pipelines and by setting up new industries and a new port in Ras Laffan for gas exports.
The initial output capacity of the field is 800 million cubic feet of gas, which is enough to meet domestic and industrial requirements for gas at home, besides earmarking 50 thousand barrels per day of condensate and liquids for exportation. The rate of gas production of the north field has risen to (9) Billion cubic feet per day, whereas the condensate production reached (350) bpd.