Qatar eyes E&P in Dominican Republic

Qatari government officials and companies are interested in the Dominican Republic's plans to develop its hydrocarbons industry, according to the latter nation's energy and mines minister.

During a visit to the Gulf state, the Dominican Republic's energy minister, Antonio Isa Conde (pictured, right), met with oil and gas industry representatives and Qatar's energy and industry minister Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada (pictured, left), to offer details of the Caribbean nation's hydrocarbon development plans.

Bin Saleh Al Sada highlighted the Caribbean nation's strategic importance given its geographical location and expressed his willingness to support the Dominican Republic in its plans to launch a tender for its oil blocks and develop its hydrocarbons industry.

Isa Conde also met with the CEO of Qatar Mining, Mohammed Al-Shahwani, and the CEO of Qatar Petroleum, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi.

The Dominican Republic said in January it planned to launch a tender this year for hydrocarbon exploration blocks, and is preparing contract models and reference terms. And in March, the government published a resolution outlining the procedure for issuing hydrocarbon E&P authorizations, concessions or permits.

The ministry presented its first national hydrocarbons database this month, which is available online and was compiled from a 2D seismic survey of 19,000km conducted by Schlumberger-Surenco.

During the preparation of the database, Isa Conde visited Trinidad and Tobago, which has also expressed an interest in investing in the Dominican Republic's hydrocarbons sector, according to a ministry press release.