VENEZUELA PRESSURING QATAR TO IMMEDIATELY SIGN GAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000660 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2018 TAGS: EPET ENRG ECON QA VE SUBJECT: VENEZUELA PRESSURING QATAR TO IMMEDIATELY SIGN GAS AGREEMENT Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Caracas is pushing Doha hard to sign immediately a recently received Heads-of-Agreement on an off-shore Venezuelan reservoir, according to Minister of State for Energy and Industry, Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada. ¶2. (C) Al-Sada told Ambassador September 14th that Qatar was surprised by the urgency, especially since talks with Venezuela about the joint investment in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project had been going on sporadically for six years. ¶3. (C) Under the terms of the agreement, Qatar would take a 10 per cent stake, Al-Sada said. He commented that Qatar still knew very little about the reservoir, including its size and hydrocarbon characteristics. Moreover, Qatar lacked key details such as specifics on industry partners in the project. ¶4. (C) Al-Sada expressed concern that Venezuela was pushing so hard, noting that they were saying Qatar must sign "now or never." Asked by the Ambassador about other countries that might partner with Venezuela, Al-Sada noted that Venezuela might "strategically" look to Iran, but it would be a bad practical move, as Tehran has "no LNG experience" to draw from. ¶5. (C) Al-Sada was well aware of the recent escalation of tension between Venezuela and the United States, and thought that this would be a particularly bad time for Qatar to agree to the Heads-of-Agreement. Ambassador agreed, recommending that Qatar think twice -- and twice again -- before getting further involved with Venezuela. LeBaron