Doha commissions storage plant to sequester 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from its LNG facilities by 2025.

Qatar commissioned a carbon capture-and-storage plant and aims to sequester five million tonnes of carbon dioxide from its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities by 2025.

Energy Minister Said al-Kaabi said on Tuesday the existence of the plant had not been announced before.

“We have successfully commissioned a facility in Qatar … It’s the largest carbon recovery and sequestration facility in the region,” al-Kaabi told a conference in London, adding it had a 2.1 million tonnes per year capacity.

Qatar has for years been the world’s largest LNG producer and exporter. It aims to build a large extension to its sprawling LNG facilities to increase production by 40 percent.

Al-Kaabi, also the chief executive of Qatar Petroleum (QP), said the design of the expansion has taken into account carbon capture and storage.

He also said QP was looking into using carbon in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), which it has been piloting in its oilfields.

EOR improves oil production by pumping gas – in this case, carbon – into a field to increase its depleted pressure.

“That’s a big project. We’re building large pipelines across the country … Maybe 10 years down the road we will have enhanced oil recovery.”