Qatar would invest up to $30 billion to boost its exports of LNG to more than 45 million tonnes per year by 2010, Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said.

'We are targeting more than 45 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG exports by 2010,' Attiyah said.

The Gulf Arab state, which holds the world's third largest gas reserve in its continental shelf, currently exports around 15 million tpy, mainly to Japan, South Korea but also to Spain and the United States.

Attiyah said the country would invest about $25 to $30 billion to meet the 2010 target.
Currently, the country has two LNG projects - Qatar Liquefied Gas Company (Qatargas), which has current output capacity of 7.7 million tpy and RasGas with output capacity of 6.6 million tpy.

He said Qatar viewed Asia as a key market.
'We will continue serving Asia,' Attiyah said. 'We'll be there to work with Asia in the market.' 

Qatar has recently signed agreements with ConocoPhillips for 7.5 million tpy supply to the U$ and 15 million tpy with ExxonMobil for the UK market.
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