Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil Invest $10 Billion in Texas LNG Export Plant

---

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As the world's largest exporter of liquefied methane, Qatar is protecting its future position by investing heavily overseas in projects related to liquefied natural gas (LNG). Many of these ventures are in partnership with ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas). The state-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) is planning large-scale investments in integrated gas exploration and LNG production in the U.S., based mainly on shale gas.

QP also will be investing in Australia, which is targeting the global No. 1 spot for LNG exports. Australia is currently exporting 24 million tons of LNG annually and has the project potential to raise capacity to 130 million tons of liquefied methane a year. The expansion in capacity is of particular interest to QP.

Projects to export 62 million tons annually from Australia by 2018 are already well-advanced, and there are joint ventures planned, which would add another 44 million tons a year of additional capacity.

Domestically, QP has the capacity to export 83 million tons of LNG, and its existing complex of production trains has a nameplate capacity of 77 million tons. With this base to expand on when markets demand more LNG, QP is looking to lead global liquid methane business from liquefaction to re-gasification.

Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) is focusing on the shale gas boom in the U.S., where it is in a joint venture, Golden Pass Products LLC, with ExxonMobil for the downstream element of a major integrated gas exploration and LNG production project tied to the Golden Pass LNG receiving terminal, which is being converted to export LNG to Asia-Pacific markets. When fully operative, the project will have an annual export capacity of 25 million tons.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has permitted the Golden Pass import terminal (QPI 70% / ExxonMobil 30%), which is near Port Arthur in Texas, to be converted into a liquefaction center. The facility will be used for exports of LNG to countries that have free-trade agreements with the U.S.

The two partners will invest $10 billion in the first phase of the Golden Pass export program. This will fund liquefaction trains with a combined annual capacity of 15.6 million tons. The center will be installed at the existing terminal through 2017.

QPI is looking at other major international project investments, including a stake in Russia's Yamal LNG export project, but its immediate efforts are concentrated in the U.S.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.