Fluor completes Qatargas’ JBOG job

LNG engineer Fluor said it has completed the two-year warranty period to ensure Qatargas’ US$1 billion jetty boil-off gas (JBOG) recovery project facilities operated as intended.

The company was contracted in 2007 to evaluate the scope for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the project.

The world’s largest LNG exporter, Qatar, embarked on a mission in the mid-2000s to reduce carbon emissions from its LNG facilities as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability.

The project aims to minimize the amount of gas flared at the Ras Laffan LNG export terminal, which exports approximately 77 million metric tons of LNG annually. Instead of flaring, the gas is recovered and collected for reprocessing as LNG.

Prior to the JBOG project Fluor was already active in Qatar and involved with two major projects at Ras Laffan: a fast-track set of common off-plot production support facilities and the sixth LNG loading facility, designated as Berth 6.

After completing the FEED, Fluor was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract in 2010. Fluor’s design was required to be able to recover gas from multiple ships loading simultaneously.

With construction completed and the ready for start-up certificate issued in September 2014, the JBOG recovery facility began operations less than one month later, recovering the first cargo of boil-off gas in October 2014. The scope of work also included the two-year warranty period.

During the warranty period, Fluor supported operations after startup and commissioning.

The JBOG recovery facility has already recovered more than 1.12 million metric tons of boil-off gas from 1,200 different ships, with a recovery rate of more than 93 percent.

The main shareholders of the JBOG project are Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Total, ConocoPhillips and Shell, while the facilities operated by Qatargas and RasGas.