- Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
November 01, 2010 (KATAKami / RIA NOVOSTI) --- Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani will pay an official visit to Russia on November 2-4 at the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's invitation, the Kremlin said.
Russian-Qatari high level talks are scheduled on November 3, the statement said.
Russia and Qatar are planning joint projects to develop gas deposits on the Yamal Peninsula in the Russian Arctic, the countries said in April.
Russia's largest independent gas producer, Novatek, has expressed an interest in involving Qatari partners in the Yamal LNG project, which will draw resources from the South Tambeiskoye gas condensate field with estimated gas reserves of 1.3 trillion cubic meters.
Qatar has invited Russia's Gazprom to take part in projects to extract and produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a moratorium is lifted on developing its North Field deposits.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in March that Russia and Qatar, two of the world's largest hydrocarbon producers, should coordinate their activity on global gas and oil markets.
The two countries already have active energy contacts, including through OPEC and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). The GECF headquarters is situated in Qatar's capital Doha. In December 2009, GECF elected Russian Leonid Bokhanovsky as its secretary general.
Qatar has the third-largest natural gas reserves in the world, behind Russia and Iran, with proven reserves of approximately 25.8 trillion cubic meters, or almost 15% of the global total. Qatar's proven oil reserves stand at 15.2 billion barrels.
MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti)
