From Black Gold to Frozen Gas: How Qatar Became an Energy Superpower (Center on Global Energy Policy Series)

Today, Qatar is among the world’s wealthiest countries. Its rich hydrocarbon resources have transformed this small Gulf state into an energy powerhouse, funded its outsized global ambitions, and allowed it to forge an identity separate from those of its large and powerful neighbors.

Drawing on Michael D. Tusiani’s firsthand accounts and deep personal experience in the energy sector and Anne-Marie Johnson’s years of reporting, this book explores how Qatar became a major player in the global energy market. It follows the twists and turns of Qatar’s road to riches, from the first interest by British and American oil companies in the 1920s to the decades it took to develop the North field―the world’s largest gas field―following its discovery in 1971 through the country’s emergence as one of the world’s leading exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the 2000s.

From Black Gold to Frozen Gas details the technical, financial, and political challenges involved in getting Qatar’s first LNG projects off the ground. It shows how, despite missteps and setbacks, the foundations of today’s Qatar were laid over many decades. And it chronicles epic rivalries within the ruling Al Thani family, among oil companies, and in the geopolitics of the energy landscape.

Part historical analysis, part in-the-room narrative, From Black Gold to Frozen Gas is the definitive account of oil and gas development in Qatar.