New LNG Production Trains Announced for the Middle East

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company (RasGas) (Doha, Qatar) is planning to construct multiple LNG liquefaction trains at its Ras Laffan Industrial City location. At a cost of over $2 billion apiece, the three additional trains will be some of the largest in the world with a production capacity of over 7.8 million tons per year each. The new trains will come online in a staggered fashion roughly one to one and a half years apart. The new trains will be designated train #5 (PEC 98890081), Train #6 (PEC 98890082) and train #7 (PEC 98890083).

Design on train five is complete and RasGas expects to select an E+P+C contractor in the summer of 2004. Construction on train five will commence in early 2005 with completion targeted for some time in 2007. Construction will start on train six in 2006 and train seven in 2007. RasGas is a joint venture of Qatar Petroleum (Doha Qatar) with seventy percent ownership and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM)(Irving, Texas) holding the remaining thirty percent. The multibillion-dollar investment by ExxonMobil is part of the companies $25 billion global LNG investment scheme. The LNG produced by these new trains will supply the growing LNG markets in Europe and the U.S.