Issue #65, Volume #2
Copying The Qatari Playbook At Scale
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| The Qataris are the wealthiest people in the world… It’s all because of natural gas, not oil… The same thing is happening in the U.S… This company might be the best investment opportunity of Porter’s lifetime… The U.S. Treasury just bought back more bonds than ever before… Musk versus Trump: a reader poll… |
Most people think that the Saudis are the wealthiest people in the world (per-capita GDP).
But they’re not. And it’s not even close.
The Qataris are the wealthiest people in the world, with a per-citizen GDP of close to $500,000 annually.
No, they didn’t get rich with oil. They got rich with natural gas.
In 1971, they discovered one of Earth’s largest deposits of energy. This was a field so big its proven reserves were larger than all of the other known gas fields on the planet, combined. Called the North Dome, it is spread across an enormous area (4,000 square miles), deep below (10,000 feet) the seabed of the Persian Gulf.
There are around 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in these reservoirs, plus gas condensate – . the energy equivalent of roughly 250 billion barrels of oil. That’s equal to about 50 years’ worth of America’s total oil production at current rates.
Why should you care? Because something similar is happening in America right now.
We have discovered enormous natural gas reserves deep below the surface in West Texas, a huge field called the Permian Basin. In fact, the Permian is currently producing around 7 trillion cubic feet of gas per year, almost twice as much as is being produced by the Qataris.
And because this gas is produced as a by-product of oil production, the costs associated with this gas are even lower than in the Persian Gulf: this gas is virtually free. This flood of gas has kept natural gas prices extremely low in the U.S. for the last 15 years. And this huge field has allowed the United States to become the world’s leading natural gas exporter, creating an incredible economic windfall for the U.S. We generate almost $300 billion per year in energy export revenue.
There is one big difference though between the Middle East and the U.S. when it comes to energy. In America, the government doesn’t own this incredible resource. It isn’t shared with all of the citizens. In Texas, mineral rights are controlled by private shareholders, shareholders who will become some of the wealthiest people in the world.
And there’s one group of shareholders in particular who will benefit the most: liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) exporters.
This is going to take about a decade. But investors have the complete Qatari playbook to follow.
Let me show you.
Following the discovery of the North Dome, it took about 20 years for the Qataris to ramp up gas production. When production at scale began in 1991, the Qataris were still a relatively poor country, with only about $30,000 in per-capita GDP.
The biggest hurdle to reaching global energy markets and monetizing the resource was transportation. There weren’t many ships capable of transporting natural gas, and most countries hadn’t invested in the infrastructure necessary to offload LNG. After all, natural gas must be cooled to -260 degrees F before it turns into a liquid.
In 1959, a World War II cargo ship was refitted to carry LNG. Renamed the Methane Pioneer, she took half a dozen cargos of natural gas from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Great Britain. Later, she served a route between Algeria and the UK for more than 20 years. Even as late as 1996, as the Qataris completed their first large-scale LNG export facility, there were only about 200 small LNG ships in the world, with a total fleet capacity of 26 million cubic feet.
The Qatari production of natural gas for export was like a drop in the ocean of energy – only about 5 billion cubic feet of gas was exported and the country remained poor. But as LNG infrastructure was developed, the Qataris continued to increase production.
By 2000, total gas production had boomed – reaching 1 trillion cubic feet, and the Qataris were becoming very rich.
By 2006, production was in excess of 2 trillion cubic feet, with exports alone in excess of 1 trillion cubic feet, making the Qataris the world’s leading LNG export nation. And, quite suddenly, they’d become the richest people in the world, only a decade after beginning LNG development.
In 2009, the Qataris completed their seventh major LNG “train” – exporting 2.4 trillion cubic feet of gas annually, about 77 million tonnes per annum (“mtpa”) and generating more than $50 billion per year in revenue.
Today Qatari production is expanding again, moving from 77 mtpa to 110 mpta. It’s remained the wealthiest country in the world (per-citizen GDP). And its sovereign wealth fund holds more than $500 billion in assets, collectively owned by just 300,000 Qatari citizens.
Beyond the huge gas field and the massive infrastructure investments, what enabled all this wealth was distribution and transportation. Over the last 20 years, a revolution has occurred in the energy markets, with LNG becoming a primary energy source for dozens of nations. There are now 830 large LNG ships in the global fleet, with a total capacity of 145 million square feet.
If you’re familiar with my 2012 recommendation of Cheniere Energy (LNG), then you know how America has been competing with Qatar. Cheniere was the first American company to export LNG, beginning in 2016. Today the company is exporting around 50 mtpa of LNG per year, or about half as much as the Qataris. And the stock? Its shares have moved from around $10 to around $250, now valued at over $50 billion.
That’s been a great investment. But today there’s a new industry leader emerging.
Venture Global (NYSE: VG) began building its LNG export facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2019. It has two major developments, Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines. Total completed capacity is around 25 mtpa, or about 25% of the Qataris’ current production. But Venture Global is continuing to build.
There will be another 25 mtpa in capacity by 2027. And then another 50 mtpa by 2030, taking Venture Global past Qatar’s current production and making Venture Global, by far, America’s leading LNG exporter.
If you understand how much wealth the Qataris have created over the last 30 years in LNG, then you have some idea of how much wealth will be created by Venture Global over the next 30 years.
Meanwhile, today it’s trading at a market value of only $36 billion, which I’d argue is a discount to the value of its existing facilities.
Investors are skeptical of the company’s aggressive business plan, which is to sell a substantial portion of its production at the market’s spot price, rather than tying up all of its production with long-term contracts. This positions Venture Global to make windfall profits when global energy prices soar, like they did in 2022 and 2023 because of the Ukraine war, driving Venture Global’s revenue over $14 billion in those two years.
Venture Global is one of the best investment opportunities I’ve ever found in my career.
I like the idea of being a Qatari – without having to live in the desert!
Full disclosure: We originally recommended shares to our paid subscribers at around $11. And I personally own 20,000+ shares. We have also recommended options on these VG shares to Trading Club subscribers too – to learn more about becoming a Trading Club member, click here. There is currently a waiting list, but once you are in, you can get access to many other great opportunities like this one.
This Could Be Elon’s Final (And Richest) Project
Most people will miss out.
But there’s a backdoor ticker symbol that gets you a stake.
Three Things To Know Before We Go…
1. Treasury buybacks prop up a fragile bond market. The U.S. Treasury bought back $10 billion worth of its own bonds on Tuesday – the largest buyback in history – in a bid to support a weakening Treasury market. If enacted, President Donald Trump’s proposed “Big Beautiful Bill,” likely to increase the deficit even more, could accelerate an already deteriorating fiscal picture for the U.S. Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought to calm fears by declaring the U.S. will “never default” – but when a Treasury Secretary has to say that out loud, it’s clear that a default is a real possibility.
2. The labor market shows resilience, but downward revisions continue. U.S. employers added 139,000 jobs during the month of May, exceeding expectations of 126,000. The unemployment rate came in at 4.2%, in line with Wall Street forecasts. Despite the strong initial reading, we continue to see a trend of downward revisions for prior months. The April employment numbers were revised down from 177,000 to 147,000 in the latest report.
3. Silver is breaking out. Gold’s volatile cousin is having a great week – silver is up more than 9% and trading above $36 an ounce for the first time since February 2012. And there could be further gains to come… as the chart below highlights, previous gold bull markets have ultimately seen silver soar as well. If this relationship holds, silver could reach its previous all-time high near $50 an ounce.
And One More Thing… Trump vs. Elon: Today’s Poll
Yesterday, all hell broke loose on X and elsewhere – President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk squared off in a social media feud over Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Musk sharply criticized the bill as “a disgusting abomination” for increasing the federal deficit even more – and eating away at the cuts Musk enacted as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Then Trump accused Musk of opposing the bill due to the removal of electric vehicle tax credits, which would help sell Musk’s Tesla cars. And the fight continued…
Tell me what you think, good, bad, or somewhere in between:
[email protected]
Good investing,
Porter Stansberry
Stevenson, Maryland
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