I agree,
the cost of the natural gas in & to Qatar is so cheap that they can afford to turn it into liquids that have a much larger market, with a ready built suppy chain, than LNG.
Their LNG trains have made them rather a lot more money than the Pearl GTL facility, which was massively late and overbudget because it was at the time technology untested at such large scale. Vastly more of their production is exported as LNG.
I agree,
the cost of the natural gas in & to Qatar is so cheap that they can afford to turn it into liquids that have a much larger market, with a ready built suppy chain, than LNG.