Ras el Hekma deal, Qatar’s LNG expansion boost

The deal in which Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, ADQ, will invest $35bn in the Ras el-Hekma project will provide much needed foreign currency inflows for Egypt’s economy. But, even with this investment, Egypt still needs the IMF deal or risks going back to square one on the path of economic reforms. Elsewhere, QatarEnergy announced a new gas discovery in the North Field which, once fully online, will help to increase Qatar’s LNG capacity by a huge 85% by 2030. This paves the way for rapid GDP growth in the second half of this decade and for Qatar to be the largest LNG producer globally.