Qatargas Becomes No. 1 LNG Producer

Qatargas today confirms it has reached the milestone of being world’s largest LNG producer with the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its newly completed mega Train 7 of the Qatargas 4 (QG4) project in Ras Laffan Industrial City.

The QG4 project was constructed and is now operated by Qatargas on behalf of the project’s shareholders, Qatar Petroleum (70 per cent) and Shell (30 per cent).

Dr. Mohammed Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy & Industry and Chairman, Board of Directors, Qatargas, said:

“This achievement is a significant milestone for the State of Qatar, where all 14 LNG trains are now producing LNG – meeting the energy needs of tens of millions of people around the world. This accomplishment is also supporting the vision of His Highness the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, that Qatar’s energy resources would fuel the country’s long term development..”

He added: “Qatargas has achieved a world-class start-up of its Train 7. This was the result of meticulous planning and preparation by the Qatargas team. The accomplishment reinforces the strategic use of the State’s natural gas resource and continues to accelerate the rapid growth of the Qatar towards achieving our National Vision 2030. Moving forward, we now look to Qatargas to operate its QG4 project effectively and reliably, continuing to satisfy its customers with every delivery.”

Qatargas’ Train 7, the last of the four mega trains constructed by Qatargas, has the capacity to produce 7.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, making it, alongside similar trains in Ras Laffan, the largest in the world. Qatargas has now an overall production capacity of 42 mtpa of LNG from a total of seven trains.

The Qatargas 4 project opens new markets for LNG. In addition to the base destination in the United States, sale agreements had already been signed with China and Dubai. Although all volumes will be sold on a long term basis, Qatargas continues to seek other new markets to optimize its portfolio through diversions.

“Qatargas cements its place today as the world’s premier LNG supplier,” said Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell plc. “Cargoes from the Qatargas 4 project will enable new customers around the world to benefit from using cleaner-burning natural gas from Qatar.”

The Qatargas 4 project and its mega Train 7 has been built in parallel with the identical Qatargas 3 project and its Train 6, by a single team. The two projects (which have different shareholders) share offshore, storage, and other infrastructure and are also operated together, leading to greater synergies and efficiency.

The upstream infrastructure for the Qatargas 4 project consists of three unmanned platforms, up to 33 wells and two subsea pipelines, all of which are complete and are shared with the Qatargas 3 project. Qatargas’ Train 7 produces 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day, delivering 7.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 70,000 barrels per day of condensate and Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

The LNG that Qatargas’ Train 7 is producing will be transported to market via a fleet of eight ships each with a capacity in the range of 210,000 – 266,000 cubic metres, operated by Qatar Gas Shipping Company, known as Nakilat.

[mappress]

Source: Qatargas, February 9, 2011;