Qatar: Q3 nominal GDP rose by 40% on gas output

Qatar, the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, said its nominal gross domestic product increased an annual 40 percent on expanding gas output. Third-quarter GDP at current prices rose to QR164.8bn ($45bn), the state statistics authority said in an e-mailed press release. The mining and quarrying sector, which includes gas and oil, increased 57 percent and manufacturing rose 37 percent, according to the statement. The rise “has been driven mainly by expansion in the production levels of LNG, pipeline gas, other gas-related products and condensates, coupled with increases in hydrocarbon prices,” the statistics authority said. Qatar, projected by the International Monetary Fund to have the world’s fastest-growing economy for a second year in 2011, raised its capacity to produce LNG, gas cooled to a liquid for transport by ship, to 77 million tonnes with the start of its 14th liquefaction plant earlier this year. Royal Dutch Shell’s Pearl GTL, the world’s largest plant that converts gas into liquid fuels such as diesel and kerosene, also started operation this year.